mjCA^^/f&u^^y^^^ 


\\ 


THE  BOHOUR 

OP  as 

THE  riAG 


-S* 


VJ  /i 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


^ 


GIFT  OF 

Coinmodore  Byron  McCandless 


AUTONYM    LIBRARY 


THE  AUTONYM  LIBRARY. 


Small  works  by  representative  writers, 
whose  contributions  will  bear  their  signa- 
tures. 

32mo,  limp  doth,  each  50  cents. 
The   Autonym    Library    is    published    in 
co-operation  with  Mr.   T.  Fisher  Unwin,  of 
London. 

L  The  Upper  Berth,  by  F.  Marion  Craw- 
ford. 
IL  Found   and    Lost,   by    Mary    I'utnam- 
Jacobi. 

III.  The  Doctor,    His  Wife,   and  the 

Clock,  by  Anna  Katharine  Green. 

IV.  The  Honour  of  the  Flag,  by  W. 

Clark  Russell. 

These  will  be  followed  by  volumes  by 
other  well-known  writers. 


THE  HONOUR  OF 
THE  FLAG 


BY 
W.  CLARK  RUSSELL 

AUTHOR   OF   "the   WRECK   OF  THE  GROSVENOR,'' 

"life  of  lord  nelson,"  etc.,  etc. 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

NEW   YORK  LONDON 

27  West  Twenty-third  Street  24  Bedford  Street,  Strand 

Ubc  1kn(cl5crbocf?cr  prces 

i8y5 


Copyright,  1895 

BY 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


"Cbc  'Rntcherbocfeer  prees,  flew  IRocbellc,  H.  13. 


Contents. 


PAGE 

The  Honour  of  the  Flag  .     .  3 

Cornered  ! 28 

A  Midnight  Visitor  .     .     .     .  41 

Plums  from  a  Sailor's  Duff  .  57 

The  Strange  Adventures  of 

A  South  Seaman  ....     82 

The    Adventures    of    Three 

Sailors iio 

The  Strange  Tragedy  of  the 

"  White  Star"     ....   137 

The  Ship  Seen  on  the  Ice  .     .    163 


in 


9S0373 


THE  HONOUR  OF  THE  FLAG 


The    Honour   of   the 


Flag. 


A    THAMES    TRAGEDY. 

MANIFOLD  are  the  historic  in- 
terests of  the  river  Thames. 
There  is  scarcely  a  foot  of  its 
mud  from  London  Bridge  to  Graves- 
end  Reach  that  is  not  as  "  con- 
secrated "  as  that  famous  bit  of  soil 
which  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson  and  Mr. 
Richard  Savage  knelt  and  kissed  on 
stepping  ashore  at  Greenwich.  One 
of  the  historic  interests,  however, 
threatens  to  perish  out  of  the  annals. 
It  does  not  indeed  rise  to  such  heroic 
proportions  as  you  find  in  the  story 
of  the  Dutch  invasion  of  the  river, 
or  in  old  Hackluyt's  solemn  narra- 
tive of  the  sailing  of  the  expedition 
organised  by  Bristol's  noble  worthy, 
Sebastian  Cabot  ;  but  it  is  altogether 
too  good  and  stirring  to  merit  eras- 
ure from  the  Thames's  history  books 
by  the  neglect  or  ignorance  of  the 
historian. 


4  Ubc  Ibonour  of  tbc  3FIag 

It  is  absolutely  true  :  I  pledge  my 
word  for  that  on  the  authority  of  the 
records  of  the  Whitechapel  County 
Court. 

In  the  year  1851  there  dwelt  on  the 
banks  of  the  river  Thames  a  retired 
tailor,  whom  I  will  call  John  Sloper, 
out  of  regard  to  the  feelings  of  his 
posterity,  if  such  there  be.  This  man 
had  for  many  years  carried  on  a 
flourishing  trade  in  the  east  end  of 
London.  Having  got  together  as 
much  money  as  he  might  suppose 
would  supply  his  daily  needs,  he  built 
himself  a  villa  near  the  pleasant 
little  town  of  Erith.  His  house 
overlooked  the  water ;  in  front  of 
it  slo'ped  a  considerable  piece  of 
garden  ground. 

Mr.  Sloper  showed  good  sense  and 
good  taste  in  building  himself  a  little 
home  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames. 
All  day  long  he  was  able,  if  he  pleased, 
to  entertain  himself  with  the  sight  of 
as  stirring  and  striking  a  marine  pic- 
ture as  is  anywhere  to  be  witnessed. 
He  could  have  built  himself  a  house 
above  bridges,  where  there  is  no  lack 
of  elegance  and  river  beauty  of  many 
sorts  ;  but  he  chose  to  command  a 
view  of  the  Thames  on  its  commer- 
cialside. 

In  his  day  there  was  more  life  in  the 
river  than  there  is  now.     In  our  age 


Zbc  Hjonour  of  tbe  dflaci 


the  great  steamer  thrusts  past  and  is 
quickly  gone  ;  the  tug  runs  the  sail- 
ing-ship to  the  docks  or  to  her  moor- 
ing buoys,  and  there  is  no  life  in  the 
fabric  she  drags.  In  Sloper's  time 
steamers  were  few  ;  the  water  of  the 
river  teemed  with  sailing  craft  of 
every  description  ;  they  tacked  across 
from  bank  to  bank  as  they  staggered 
to  their  destination  against  the  wind. 

Sloper,  silting  at  his  open  window 
on  a  fine  day,  would  be  able  to  count 
twenty  different  types  of  rigs  in  al- 
most as  many  minutes.  That  he 
took  a  keen  interest  in  ships,  how- 
ever, I  do  not  assert ;  that  he  could 
have  told  you  the  difference  between 
a  brig  and  a  schooner  is  barely  imagi- 
nable. The  board  on  which  Sloper 
had  flourished  was  not  shipboard,  it 
had  nothing  to  do  with  starboard  or 
larboard  ;  he  was  a  tailor,  not  a 
sailor,  and  the  friends  who  ran  down 
to  see  him  were  of  his  own  sort  and 
condition. 

Sloper  was  a  widower  ;  how  many 
years  he  had  lived  with  his  wife  I 
can't  say.  She  died  one  Easter  Mon- 
day, and  when  Sloper  took  possession 
of  his  new  house  near  Erith  he 
mounted  some  small  cannon  on  his 
lawn,  and  these  pieces  of  artillery  he 
regularly  fired  every  Easter  Monday 
in  celebration  of  what  he  called  the 


6  Cbe  Ibonour  of  tbe  ff  lag 

joyfullest  anniversary  of  his  life. 
From  which  it  is  to  be  assumed  that 
Sloper  and  his  wife  had  not  lived  to- 
gether very  happily.  But  though  the 
Whitechapel  County  Court  records 
have  been  searched  and  inquiries 
made  in  that  part  of  London  where 
Sloper's  shop  was  situated,  it  has  not 
been  discovered  that  Mrs.  Sloper's 
end  was  hastened  by  her  husband's 
cruelty  ;  that,  in  short,  more  hap- 
pened between  them  than  constant 
quarrels.  Yet  it  must  be  said  that 
Sloper  behaved  as  though,  in  truth  (as 
the  old  adage  would  put  it),  his  little 
firrure  contained  no  more  than  the 
ninth  part  of  a  soul,  when  he  mounted 
his  guns  and  rudely  and  noisily  tri- 
umphed over  the  dead  whom  he  per- 
haps might  have  been  afraid  of  in 
life,  and  coarsely  emphasised  with 
blasts  of  gunpowder  his  annual  joy 
over  his  release. 

Now  in  the  east  end  of  London, 
not  above  twenty  minutes'  walk  from 
Sloper's  old  shop,  there  lived  a  sailor, 
named  Joseph  Westlake.  This  man 
had  served  when  a  boy  under  Colling- 
wood,  had  smelt  gunpowder  at  Nava- 
rino  under  Codrington,  had  been 
concerned  in  several  dashing  cutting- 
out  jobs  in  the  West  Indies,  and  was 
altog-ether  as  hearty  and  worthy  a 
specimen  of  an  old  English  sailor  of 


ttbe  Ibonour  of  tbe  dflag 


the  vanished  school  as  you  could  ask 
to  see. 

He  had  been  shot  in  the  leg  ;  he 
carried  a  great  scar  over  his  brow  ; 
he  was  as  full  of  yarns  as  a  piece  of 
ancient  ship's  biscuit  of  weevils  ;  he 
swore  with  more  oaths  than  a  Dutch- 
man ;  sneered  prodigiously  at  steam  ; 
and  held  the  meanest  opinion  of  the 
then  existing  race  of  seamen,  who, 
he  said,  never  could  have  won  the 
old  battles  which  had  been  the  mak- 
ing of  this  kingdom,  whether  under 
Howe's  or  gallant  Jervis's,  or  the 
lion-hearted  Nelson's  flag. 

The  country  had  no  further  need 
of  his  services  on  his  being  paid  off 
out  of  his  last  ship,  and  he  was  some- 
what at  a  loss,  until  happening  to  be 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Wapping, 
and  looking  in  upon  an  old  shipmate 
who  kept  a  public  house,  he  learnt 
that  a  lawyer  had  been  making  in- 
quiries for  him.  He  called  upon  that 
lawyer,  and  was  astounded  to  hear 
that  during  his  absence  from  England 
a  fortune  of  ^15,000  had  been  left  to 
him  by  an  aunt  in  Australia. 

Joe  Westlake  on  this  took  a  little 
house  in  the  Stepney  district,  and  en- 
deavoured to  settle  down  as  an  east- 
end  gent ;  but  his  efforts  to  ride  to  a 
shore-going  anchor  were  hopeless. 
His  mind  was  always  roaming.     He 


8         Zbe  "toonour  of  tbe  jFlag 

had  followed  the  sea  man  and  boy 
for  hard  upon  fifty  years,  and  the  cry 
of  his  heart  was  still  for  water  — water 
without  rum  ! — water  fresh  or  salt ! 
it  mattered  not  what  sort  of  water  it 
was  so  long  as  it  taas — water. 

So  as  Joe  Westlake  found  that  he 
could  n't  rest  ashore  he  looked  about 
him,  and,  after  a  while,  fell  in  with 
and  purchased  a  smart  little  cutter, 
which  he  re-christened  the  Tom 
Bo7vli7i^,  out  of  admiration  of  the 
song  which  no  sailor  ever  sang  more 
sweetly  than  he.  It  was  perfectly 
consistent  with  his  traditions  as  a 
man-of-warsman  that,  having  bought 
his  little  ship,  he  should  arm  her. 
He  equipped  her  with  four  small 
carronades  and  a  pivoted  brass  six- 
pounder  on  the  forecastle.  He  then 
went  to  work  to  man  her,  but  he  did 
not  very  easily  find  a  crew.  Joe  was 
fastidious  in  his  ideas  of  seamen,  and 
though  some  whom  he  cast  his  eye 
upon  came  very  near  to  his  taste, 
it  cost  him  a  great  deal  of  trouble  to 
discover  the  particular  set  of  Jacks 
he  wanted. 

Three  at  last  he  found :  Peter 
Plum,  Bob  Robins,  and  Tom  Tuck. 
Joe  was  admiral  ;  Plum,  coming  next, 
combined  a  number  of  grades.  He 
was  captain,  first  lieutenant,  and 
boatswain.     Robins    was   the    ship's 


^be  "ibonour  of  tbc  jf  lag 


working  company,  and  Tom  Tuck 
cooked  and  was  the  all-round  handy 
man  of  the  Tom  Boivlinf:;. 

It  was  Mr.  JoeWestlake's  intention 
to  live  on  board  his  cutter;  he  fur- 
nished his  cabin  plainly  and  comfort- 
ably, and  laid  in  a  plentiful  stock  of 
liquor  and  tobacco.  As  he  was  to 
cruise  under  his  own  flag,  and  was 
indeed  an  admiral  on  his  own  ac- 
count, he  conferred  with  his  first 
lieutenant,  Peter  Plum,  on  the  ques- 
tion of  a  colour  :  what  description  of 
flag  should  he  fly  at  his  masthead  ? 
They  both  started  with  the  under- 
standing that  nothing  under  a  fathom 
and  a  half  in  length  was  worth  hoist- 
ing. After  much  discussion  it  was 
agreed  that  the  device  should  consist 
of  a  very  small  jack  in  the  top  corner, 
and  in  the  middle  a  crown  with  a 
wooden  leg  under  it — the  timber  toe 
being  in  both  Westlake's  and  Plum's 
opinion  the  most  pregnant  symbol  of 
Britannia's  greatness  that  the  imagi- 
nation could  devise. 

Within  a  few  months  of  his  land- 
ing from  the  frigate  out  of  which  he 
had  been  paid,  Mr.  Joseph  Westlake 
was  again  afloat,  but  now  in  a  smart 
little  vessel  of  his  ow^n.  She  had 
been  newly  sheathed  with  copper, 
and  when  she  heeled  over  from  the 
breeze  as  she  stretched  through  the 


lo        lEbc  ■ff3onoiir  of  tbc  jflag 

winding  reaches  of  the  river  the 
metal  shone  Uke  gold  above  the 
wool-white  line  of  foam  through 
which  the  cutter  washed,  and  lazy 
men  in  barges  would  turn  their  heads 
to  admire  her,  and  red-capped  cooks 
in  the  cabooses  of  "  ratching  "  colliers 
would  step  to  the  rail  to  look,  and 
sometimes  a  party  of  gay  and  gallant 
Cockneys,  male  and  female,  taking 
their  pleasure  in  a  wherry,  would  sa- 
lute the  passing  Tom  Bowling  with  a 
flourish  of  hands  and  pocket-hand- 
kerchiefs. 

Never  had  old  Joe  been  so  happy 
in  all  his  life.  Of  a  night  he  'd  bring 
up  in  some  secure  nook,  and  after 
having  seen  everything  all  safe,  he  'd 
go  below  with  Peter  Plum,  and  in  the 
cosy  interior  of  the  little  cabin,  whose 
atmosphere  was  rendered  speedily 
fragrant  with  the  perfume  of  rum 
punch,  which  Joe,  whilst  in  the  West 
Indies,  had  learnt  the  art  of  brewing 
to  perfection,  the  two  sailors  would 
sit  smoking  their  yards  of  pipe-clay 
whilst  they  discoursed  on  the  past, 
one  incident  recalling  another,  one 
briny  recollection  prompting  an  even 
Salter  memory,  until  their  eyes  grew 
moist  and  their  vision  dim  in  their 
balls  of  sight ;  whereupon  they  would 
turn  in  and  make  the  little  ship  vocal 
with  their  noses. 


;rbe  Ibonour  ot  tbe  jflag        n 

It  happened,  according  to  the  usual 
methods  of  time,  that  an  Easter  Mon- 
day came  round,  which,  as  we  know, 
was  the  joyful  anniversary  of  the 
death  of  the  wife  of  the  retired  tailor, 
Sloper,  whose  villa,  called  Labour's 
Retreat,  stood  upon  the  banks  of  the 
Thames  near  Enth.  To  fitly  cele- 
brate this  happy  day  Mr.  Sloper  had 
invited  three  friends  to  dine  with 
him.  It  was  in  the  year  185 1,  when 
the  class  of  society  in  which  Mr. 
Sloper  belonged  was  not  so  genteel 
in  its  habits  as  it  has  since  become ; 
in  other  words,  Sloi)er  dined  at  two 
o'clock.  Had  he  survived  into  this 
age  he  would  not  have  dreamt  of 
dining  at  an  earlier  hour  than  seven. 

His  friends  were  of  his  own  sex. 
Sloper  did  not  like  the  ladies.  His 
friends'  calling  matters  not.  They 
did  business  in  the  east  end  of  Lon- 
don, and  were  all  three  thoroughly 
respectable  tradesmen  in  a  small  way, 
wanting,  perhaps,  in  the  muscle  and 
depth  of  chest  and  hurricane  lungs  of 
Joe  Westlake  and  Peter  Plum,  but  all 
of  them  able  to  pay  twenty  shillings 
in  the  pound,  to  give  good  value  for 
prompt  cash,  and  desirous  not  only 
of  fresh  patronage,  but  determined  to 
a  man  to  merit  the  continuance  of 
the  same. 

When  Sloper  and  his  friends  had 


12        Cbc  Ibonour  of  tbe  jflaci 


dined,  and  the  bottle  had  circled  un- 
til, like  quicksilver  in  the  eye  of  a 
hurricane,  the  contents  had  sunk  out 
of  sight,  the  party  went  on  to  the 
lawn  to  fire  off  the  guns  there  in  com- 
pletion of  the  triumphant  celebration 
of  the  ever-memorable  anniversary  of 
Sloper's  release. 

It  was  precisely  at  this  hour  that 
the  Tom  Boivliiig,  with  Plum  at  the 
helm  and  Joe  Westlake  in  full  rig, 
marching  up  and  down  the  quarter- 
deck, came  leisurely  rounding  down 
Halfway  Reach  before  a  pleasant 
northerly  breeze  of  wind  blowing 
over  the  flat,  fat  levels  of  Barking. 
The  7om  Bowling,  opening  Jenning- 
tree  Point,  ported  her  helm  and 
floated  in  all  her  pride  of  white  can- 
vas and  radiant  metal  and  fathom 
and  a  half  of  shining  bunting  at  her 
masthead  into  Erith  Reach. 

Just  as  she  came  abreast  of  La- 
bour's Retreat  a  gun  was  fired  ;  the 
white  powder-smoke  clouded  the 
tailor's  lawn ;  the  thunder  of  the 
ordnance  smote  the  ear  of  Joe  West- 
lake,  who,  dilating  his  nostrils  and  di- 
recting his  eyes  at  Sloper's  villa, 
bawled  out  :  "  Peter  !  that  's  meant 
for  us,  my  heart  !  Down  helium  ! 
slacken  away  fore  and  aft !  pipe  all 
hands  for  action  !  " 

A    second    gun    roared    upon   the 


trbc  t)onoiir  of  tbe  jflag        13 


lawn  that  sloped  from  the  tailor's 
house  ;  and  almost  as  loud  was  the 
shout  that  Westlake  delivered  to  all 
hands  to  look  alive  and  bring  the 
guns  to  bear.  The  Tom  Botvling 
was  thrown  into  the  wind  and  brought 
to  a  stand  abreast  of  Labour's  Re- 
treat ;  Plum  took  a  turn  with  the 
helm  and  went  to  help  at  the  guns, 
and  in  a  few  minutes  the  three  of  a 
crew,  with  Westlake  continuously- 
bawling  out  orders  to  bear  a  hand 
and  load  again,  were  actively  en- 
gaged in  firing  blank  at  the  enemy  on 
the  lawn. 

It  might  have  been  that  Mr.  Sloper 
and  his  friends  were  a  little  tipsy  ;  it 
might  have  been  that  they  were  irri- 
tated by  \\\€\x  fell  de  joie  being  inter- 
rupted and  complicated,  so  to  speak, 
by  the  cutter's  artillery  ;  it  is  certain 
that  they  continued  to  load  and 
discharge  their  guns  as  fast  as  they 
could  spunge  them  out ;  whilst  from 
the  river  the  cutter  maintained  a 
rapid  fire  at  Labour's  Retreat.  In 
an  evil  moment,  temper  getting  the 
better  of  Sloper's  judgment,  he  loaded 
one  of  his  pieces  with  stones,  and  the 
gun  was  so  well  aimed  that  on  Joe 
Westlake  looking  aloft  he  beheld  his 
beautiful  flag  of  a  fathom  and  a  half 
in  holes. 

For  some  moments  the  old  man- 


14        ^be  1F3onour  of  tbe  Jlag 

of-warsman  stood  staring  up  at  his 
wounded  flag,  idle  with  wrath  and 
astonishment.  He  then  in  a  voice  of 
thunder  shouted  :  "  Plum — Robins 
— Tuck  !  D'  ye  see  what  that  there 
fired  little  tailor's  been  and  done? 
Why,  junk  me  if  he  ha'  n't  shot  our 
colour  through  !  Boys,  load  with 
ball  ;  d'  ye  hear  ?  Suffocate  me,  but 
he  shall  have  it  back.  Quick,  my 
hearts,  and  go  for  him." 

With  ocean  alacrity  some  round 
shot  were  got  up,  a  gun  was  fired 
point-blank  at  Labour's  Retreat,  and 
down  came  a  chimney-stack,  amidst 
the  cheers  of  the  crew  of  the    Tom 

"  Now,  then,"  roared  old  Joe, 
"  over  with  our  boat,  lads,  and 
board  'em  !  Tommy,  stay  you  here 
and  let  go  the  anchor";  and  in  a 
very  few  minutes  Plum  and  Robins 
were  pulling  Joe  Westlake  ashore. 

Sloper  and  his  party  saw  them 
coming  and  manfully  stood  their 
ground.  The  three  seamen,  secur- 
ing their  boat,  forced  their  way  on 
to  the  lawn  and  marched  up  to  the 
tailor  and  his  friends. 

"What  do  you  mean  by  firing  at 
my  cutter  ?  "  roared  old  Joe. 

"What  do  you  mean  by  knocking 
down  my  chimneys?"  cried  the 
tailor,  who  was  exceedingly  pale. 


XLbc  Ibonouv  of  tbe  3FIa^        15 

"Who  began  it?"  bawled  Joe. 
"  Who  fired  first  ?  Who  's  bin  and 
made  holes  in  that  there  flag  of  mine  ? 
Why,  that  's  the  flag  of  a  British 
sailor,  you  little  withered  thimble 
you  ;  and  durn  ye,  if  you  don't  make 
me  instantly  an  humble  apology  and 
stump  up  with  the  cost  of  what  ye 've 
injured,  I  '11  skin  ye  !  "  and  he  threw 
himself  into  a  very  menacing  pos- 
ture. 

At  this  point  one  of  the  tailor's 
friends  slunlc  off. 

"  My  chimney-stack  is  worth  more 
than  your  twopenny  flag,"  shrieked 
Sloper,  maddened  even  into  some 
temporary  emotion  of  courage  by 
the  insults  of  the  old  man-of-wars- 
man. 

"  Say  that  again,  will  'ee,"  said 
Joe.  "Just  sneer  at  that  there  flag 
again,  will  'ce." 

The  tailor  was  idiotic  enough  to 
repeat  the  affront,  on  which,  and  as 
though  a  perfect  understanding  as  to 
what  was  to  be  done  subsisted  among 
the  three  sailors,  old  Joe,  Plum,  and 
Robins  fell  upon  Sloper,  and,  lifting 
him  up  in  their  arms,  ran  with  him  to 
the  boat,  into  which  they  flung  him, 
paying  not  the  least  heed  whatever 
to  his  cries  for  help  and  for  mercy, 
and  instantly  headed  for  the  cutter, 
leaving  the   tailor's  friends  white  as 


i6        Zbc  1f3oncur  of  tbe  Jf  lag 

milk  and  speechless  with  alarm  near 
the  cannon  upon  the  lawn. 

When  the  boat  reached  the  cutter, 
Plum  jumped  aboard  and  received 
little  Sloper  from  the  hands  of  old 
Joe,  making  no  more  of  the  burthen 
than  had  the  tailor  been  a  parcel, 
say,  of  a  coat  and  waistcoat,  or  a  pair 
of  trousers.  Old  Joe  then  actively 
got  over  the  rail.  He  lifted  the  little 
main-hatch,  and  Mr.  Sloper  was 
dropped  into  the  space  below,  where 
the  darkness  was  so  great  that  he 
could  not  see,  and  where  there  was 
nothing  to  sit  upon  but  Thames 
ballast. 

"  In  boat,  u])  anchor,  and  away 
with  us !  "  said  Joe  Westlake. 

The  breeze  was  fresh,  the  cutter 
was  alwavs  an  excellent  sailer,  and  in 
a  very  short  space  of  time  she  was 
running  down  Long  Reach  with 
Erith  and  its  adjacent  shores  out  of 
sight,  past  the  round  of  land  where 
Dartford  creek  is  to  be  found.  Joe 
Westlake  then  called  a  council. 
Robins  was  at  the  tiller  ;  Plum  and 
Tuck  came  aft,. and  the  four  debated 
at  the  helm. 

"  I  've  heerd,"  said  old  Joe,  "  of 
this  tailor  afore.  His  name  's  Sloper. 
I  've  never  larnt  why  he  mounted 
them  guns,  or  where  the  little  rooting 
hog  got  his  pluck  from  to  fire  'em. 


XLbc  "boiiour  of  tbe  if  lag        17 

But  there  can  be  no  shadder  of  a 
doubt,  mates,  that  his  object  in  firing 
to-day  was  to  insult  that  there  flag." 

He  pointed  with  an  immensely 
square  forefinger  to  the  masthead. 

"  Ne'er  a  shadder,"  said  Plum. 

"  For  why,"  continued  old  Joe, 
"  did  the  smothered  rag  of  a  chap 
wait  for  us  to  come  right  abreast 
afore  firing  ?" 

"  Ah  !  that  's  it,  ye  see,"  exclaimed 
Bob  Robins.  "  There  ye  've  hit  it, 
Mr.  Westlake." 

"The  little  faggot's  game,"  old 
Joe  went  on,  "  is  as  clear  as  mud  in 
a  wineglass.  He  fires  with  blank 
cartridge  ;  like  as  he  'd  say  '  What  '11 
jou  do  ? '  What  did  he  want  ?  That 
we  should  retarn  his  civility  with 
grape  ?  Of  course  ;  that  if  it  should 
come  to  a  difficulty  he  'd  have  the 
law  on  his  side.  Not  being  able  to 
aggravate  us  into  shotting  our  guns, 
what  must  he  turn  to  and  do  but 
load  with  stone — and  look  at  that 
flag !  Riddled,  mates.  I  '11  not 
speak  of  it  as  spiled,  though  a  prettier 
and  a  better  bit  of  bunting  was  never 
mastheaded.  Spiled  ain't  the  word  : 
disgraced  it  is." 

Degraded,"  said  Plum,  in  a  deep 
voice. 

"  Ay,  and  degraded,"  cried  old 
Joe,    with    a   surly,    dangerous   nod. 


i8        Cbe  Ibonoiu-  of  tbc  ^f  lag 

"That  there  little  tailor  has  degraded 
the  honour  of  our  flag.  What  's  to 
be  done  to  hira  ?  " 

After  a  pause,  Plum  said  :  "  Bring 
him  up  and  sit  in  examination  on 
him.  Try  him  fairly,  and  convict 
him." 

They  opened  the  hatch  and  pulled 
little  Sloper  off  the  Thames  ballast 
into  daylight.  He  was  exceedingly 
white,  and  trembled  violently,  and 
cut,  indeed,  a  very  pitiful  figure  as 
he  stood  on  the  quarter-deck  of  the 
Tom  Bozulifig,  surveyed  by  her  owner 
and  crew.  He  was  a  short  man  and 
spare,  and  Tom  Tuck  grinned  as  he 
looked  at  him, 

"  I  suppose  you  're  aweer,"  said  old 
Joe,  "that  in  shooting  at  my  flag  and 
wounding  her  you  've  degraded  the 
honour  of  it  ?  Are  you  aweer  of 
that  ?  " 

"  You  came  in  my  way  ;  I  was 
shooting  for  my  hentertainment," 
answered  Mr.  Sloper. 

"  You  're  a  retired  tailor,  ain't 
ye  ?  "  said  Joe. 

Sloper  sulkily  answered  "  Yes." 

"  Have  ye  any  acquaintance  with 
the  laws  which  are  made  and  pur- 
wided  for  British  seamen  when  it 
happens  that  their  flag's  degraded  by 
the  haction  of  a  retired  tailor  ?"  said 
old  Joe. 


Zbc  Ibonour  of  tbe  ^lacj        19 

Mr.  Sloper,  instead  of  answering, 
cast  a  languishing  eye  at  the  river 
banks,  which  were  fast  sHding  past, 
and  requested  to  be  set  ashore. 

"It  don't  answer  his  purpose  to 
speak  to  the  pint,"  said  Phnn. 

"  Listen,  now,"  said  old  Joe,  shak- 
ing his  forefinger  close  into  the  face 
of  little  Sloper.  "When  a  retired 
tailor  degrades  the  honour  of  a  sea- 
man's flag  by  a  shooting  at  it  and  a 
riddling  of  it,  the  law  'as  made  and 
purvvided  sets  forth  this  :  that  the 
insulted  sailor  shall  collect  his  crew 
and  in  the  presence  of  all  hands  pass 
sentence  after  giving  an  impartial 
hearing  to  what  the  culprit  may  have 
to  say  in  his  defence.  Now,  you 
durned  little  powder-burner,  speak 
up,  and  own  what  made  you  do  it, 
and  then  I  '11  pass  judgment." 

"  What 's  your  game  ?  What  d'  yer 
mean  to  do  Avith  me  ?  Where  are  you 
carryin'  me  to  ?"  cried  the  owner  of 
Labour's  Retreat.  "  None  of  yer 
nonsense,  you  know.  This  is  what 's 
called  kidnappin'.  It 's  hindictable. 
You  may  find  yourself  in  a  very  un- 
pleasant predicament  over  this  busi- 
ness, I  can  tell  yer.  You  profess  to 
know  who  I  am.  D' yer  wnnt  to 
know  what  I  'm  worth  ?  Yer  'd  bet- 
ter put  me  ashore,  I  sav,  and  stop 
this  nonsense.     I  don't  mind  a  joke. 


20        ^be  Ibonoui-  of  tbe  df  lag 

but  this  is  carrying  a  lark  too  far. 
Why,"  he  shrieked,  "here  we  are  a- 
drawing  on  to  Northflect  !  Yer  'd 
better  let  me  go."    And  so  he  went  on. 

Old  Joe  and  the  others  listened  to 
lum  with  stern  faces  ;  in  fact,  they 
received  his  protests  and  threats  as 
his  defence.  When  he  had  made  an 
end  Joe  Westlake  spoke  thus  : 

"  Sloper — I  dunno  your  Christian 
name  and  I  won't  demean  myself  by 
asking  of  it, — four  of  your  country- 
men— and  sorry  they  are  that  you 
should  be  a  countrymen  of  their  'n  — 
have  patiently  listened  to  what  ye  've 
had  to  say.  And  all  that  ye  've  said 
amounts  to  nothen  at  all.  Thehac- 
cusation  made  against  ye  is  one  of 
the  very  gravest  as  can  be  brought 
agin  a  retired  tailor.  You  're  charged 
with  degrading  the  honour  of  my  flag, 
and  ye  've  been  found  guilty,  and  my 
sentence  is  that  after  a  sufficient 
time  's  been  granted  you  for  prayer 
and  meditation,  ye  be  brought  up  to 
the  place  of  hexecution,  aboard  this 
here  cutter  the  Tom  Bo7vIi/ig,  and 
hanged  by  the  neck  till  you  're  dead." 

"  Murder  !  "  screamed  Sloper,  and 
here  (so  he  afterwards  swore  in  court) 
the  unhappy  little  tailor  fell  down 
upon  his  knees  and  begged  Joe  West- 
lake  to  grant  him  his  life. 

"Clap   him    under    hatches,"   ex- 


Zbc  Ibonour  of  tbc  jflag        21 


claimed  the  old  man-of-warsman,  and 
Plum  and  another,  lifting  the  hatch 
cover,  popped  Mr,  Sloper  down 
among  the  ballast  again. 

By  this  time  the  afternoon  had  very 
considerably  advanced,  the  wind  had 
dropped,  and  it  was  already  dark 
when  the  Tom  Bowling  let  go  her 
anchor  off  Gravesend.  The  cabin 
lamp  was  lighted,  and  old  Joe  and 
Plum  sat  down  to  a  hearty  meal,  after 
which  they  smoked  their  pipes  and 
dipped  a  ladle  into  a  silver  bowl  of 
rum  punch  of  \V^estlake's  own  brew- 
ing. 

D'  ye  mean,  captain,"  said  Plum, 
"  that  the  little  chap  in  the  hold  shall 
have  any  supper  ?  " 

"  Well,  Peter,"  answered  old  Joe, 
"  I  've  bin  a-turning  of  it  over  in  my 
mind,  and  spite  of  his  'rageous  con- 
duct I  dunno,  after  all,  that  it  would 
be  right  to  let  him  lie  all  night  with- 
out a  bite  of  something.     Call  Bob." 

This  man,  whose  surname  was 
Robins,  arrived.  Joe  told  him  to  get 
a  lantern  and  cut  a  ]>late  of  beef  and 
bread  and  mix  a  small  mug  of  rum 
and  water. 

"Ye  can  tell  the  little  chap,  Bob," 
said  old  Joe,  speaking  with  one  eye 
shut,  "that  we  're  only  a-feeding  of 
him  up  so  as  to  get  more  satisfaction 
out    of    his    hexecution    to-morrow 


22        ^be  Ibonoiu-  ot  tbc  df  las 


morning.  You  can  say  that  sail- 
oring  is  a  rather  monotonous  life, 
and  that  if  he  '11  die  game  we  shall 
all  feci  obliged  for  the  hentertain- 
ment  he  '11  afford  us." 

Whether  Bob  Robins  communi- 
cated this  speech  to  Sloper  I  cannot 
say.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  he 
took  the  lantern  and  the  tailor's  sup- 
y)er  into  the  hold  and  stood  over  the 
little  man  whilst  he  ate  and  drank. 
When  the  retired  tailor  had  finished 
his  repast  he  asked  Robins  if  he  was 
to  be  kept  locked  up  in  that  black 
hole  all  night  without  anything  to  lie 
on  but  shingle. 

"  What  did  you  fire  at  us  for  ?  " 
said  Bob. 

"  I  never  fired  at  you.  I  was  firing 
for  my  own  diversion,"  answered  Mr. 
Sloper. 

"  D'  ye  load  with  stones  for  your 
divarsion,  as  ye  call  it  ?  "  said  Bob. 

"  There  was  no  stones  when  you 
came  along,"  cried  the  tailor.  "  Why 
did  you  aggrevate  me  by  firing  in 
return  ?  " 

"  What  did  you  want  to  fire  at  all 
for  ?  "  said  Bob,  almost  pitying  the 
trembling  little  creature  as  he  showed 
by  the  lantern  light  in  the  cutter's 
small  black  hold. 

"  I  was  celebrating  a  hanniver- 
sary,"  answered  Mr.  Sloper,  who  mal- 


<rbc  1l:>onoui-  of  tbc  jf  laci        23 

treated  his  //'j-  as  badly  as  old  West- 
lake. 

"  And  what  sort  of  a  hannivcrsary 
calls  for  gun  firing  ?  "  said  Bob,  hold- 
ing up  the  lantern  to  the  tailor's  face. 

"It  was  the  hanniversary  of  m v 
wife's  death,"  said  Mr.  Sloper,  "  and 
a  day  of  rejoicing  with  me  and  my 
friends." 

Bob,  who  himself  was  a  married 
man,  loving  his  wife  and  two  little 
girls  with  the  warm  affection  of  the 
genuine  sailor's  heart,  looked  for  some 
moments  speechless  with  disgust  at 
the  white  shadowy  countenance  of 
Mr.  Slojjcr,  and  without  deigning  an- 
other word,  rose  through  the  hatch, 
which  he  carefully  secured,  and  then 
went  aft  to  old  Joe  and  I'lum  to  re- 
port what  had  i)assed. 

"  Smite  me,"  cried  the  old  man-of- 
warsman,  after  listening  to  Bob  ; 
"  but  if  this  was  furrin  parts  instead 
of  Lunnon  river,  poisoned  if  I 
would  n't  yard  arm  the  little  faggot  in 
rale  earnest.  What !  make  a  joyful 
hanniversary  of  his  wife's  death,  and 
fire  off  guns  that  the  whole  blooming 
country  may  know  what  a  little  beast 
it  is.  Sit  ye  down.  Bob,  there  's  a 
glass — help  yourself.  This  is  what 
we  mean  to  do,"  and  he  forthwith 
related  his  scheme  for  the  morning 
to  Robins  and  Plum. 


24        Zbc  ir^onour  of  tbe  jf  lag 

They  smoked  hard  and  roared  out 
in  great  peals  of  laughter.  The  bulk- 
heads of  a  little  ship  such  as  the  Tom 
Bowling  are  not,  as  may  be  supposed, 
of  very  formidable  scantling  ;  there  is 
no  doubt  that  Sloper  in  the  hold 
heard  these  wild  shouts  of  laughter 
which  the  muffling  of  the  bulkhead 
and  his  own  terrors  would  render 
awful  to  him,  and  we  may  be  sure 
that  as  he  lay  in  the  blackness  bark- 
ening to  those  horrid  notes  of  mer- 
riment, he  feared  and  perspired 
exceedingly. 

Somewhere  at  about  eight  o'clock 
next  morning  the  Tom  Bowling  was 
got  under  way,  and  when  all  hands 
had  breakfasted,  Joe  Westlake  took 
the  tiller,  and  Plum,  Robins,  and 
Tuck  went  to  work  to  construct  the 
machinery  for  the  retired  tailor's  exe- 
cution. They  filled  a  big  tub  with 
water  and  covered  it  loosely  with  a 
tarpaulin.  Close  against  this  tub 
they  placed  a  three-legged  stool  ; 
alongside  this  stool  upon  the  deck 
was  a  tar-bucket  with  a  tar-brush 
sticking  up  in  it ;  they  also  procured 
and  placed  beside  this  tar-bucket  a 
piece  of  rough  iron  hoop.  At  the 
time  that  these  preparations  were 
completed  the  cutter  was  running 
through  the  Warp,  which  is  some  lit- 
tle   distance    past   the    Nore    Light. 


Zbc  Ibonour  of  tbc  jflag        25 

The  river  had  widened  into  the 
aspect  of  an  ocean,  and  over  the 
bows  of  the  craft  the  water  stretched 
boundless  and  blue  as  the  horizon  of 
the  Pacific. 

They  opened  the  hatch  and  brought 
the  tailor  on  deck.  Needless  to  say, 
he  had  not  slept  a  wink  all  night. 
Who,  accustomed  to  a  feather-bed, 
could  snatch  even  ten  minutes'  sleep 
when  his  couch  is  Thames  ballast  ? 
Sloper's  eyes  were  bloodshot,  and  his 
countenance  haggard.  He  looked  in- 
conceivably grimy  and  forlorn,  and 
Bob  Robins  felt  sorry  for  the  little 
creature  till  he  recollected  on  a  sud- 
den the  man's  reason  for  letting  off 
his  cannons.  Tuck  took  the  helm, 
and  old  Joe  with  a  solemn  counte- 
nance and  slow  gait  rolled  forward  to 
where  the  apparatus  was  stationed. 

"  Now,  you  see  your  fate,"  he  ex- 
claimed, lifting  up  his  eyes  as  though 
he  beheld  a  rope  with  a  noose 
dangling  from  the  masthead,  "  and 
since  no  good  can  come  of  caution- 
ing a  corpse,  why  then,  sorry  I  am 
that  there  are  n't  a  company  of  peo- 
ple arter  your  kind  assembled  aboard 
this  craft  to  witness  the  hexecution  of 
my  sentence  upon  ye.  Last  night  I 
heard  that  the  reason  of  your  firing 
off  your  guns  were  to  celebrate  the 
hanniversary  of  your  wife's  death.    I 


26        vTbe  Iboiiour  of  tbc  jf  lag 

dunno,  I  'm  sure,  whether  such  a 
practice  would  n't  be  considered  as 
more  criminal  and  worthy  of  a  fear- 
fuller  punishment  than  even  the 
shooting  at  a  man's  flag  and  degrad- 
ing the  honour  of  it.  But  to  say  more 
'ud  only  be  a-wasting  of  breath.  My 
lads,  do  your  duty." 

Robins,  with  powerful  arms,  grasp- 
ed the  tailor,  who  shrieked  murder 
and  struggled  hard.  His  struggles 
were  as  the  throes  and  convulsions 
of  a  mouse  in  the  teeth  of  a  cat. 
He  was  dumped  down  on  the  three- 
legged  stool.  In  an  instant  Plum 
lathered  his  jaws  with  the  tar-brush, 
and  picking  up  the  piece  of  broken 
iron  hoop  scraped  little  Sloper's 
cheeks  till  the  lather  was  as  much 
blood  as  tar.  Then,  lifting  his  leg, 
he  tilted  the  stool  and  Mr.  Sloper  fell 
backwards  on  to  the  tarpaulin,  which, 
yielding  to  his  weight,  soused  him 
into  the  water.  They  left  him  to  kick 
and  splash  awhile,  then  pulled  him 
out  and  ran  him  forward  into  the 
head,  where  they  secured  him  to  the 
windlass  till  the  sun  should  have 
somewhat  dried  him. 

But  long  before  the  sun  had  had 
time  to  comfort  the  shivering  little 
creature  Heme  Bay  had  hove  into 
sight.  The  helm  was  shifted,  and  the 
cutter  ran  close  into  the  land,  where 


^be  Ibonoiir  ot  tbc  jf  laij        27 


they  hove  her  to  whilst  Phim  and 
Robins  got  the  boat  over. 

Mr.  Sloper  was  then  dropped  over 
the  side  into  the  boat,  which  pulled 
ashore,  landed  him,  and  returned  ; 
and  a  few  minutes  later  the  cutter 
was  standing  for  the  mouth  of  the 
river,  leaving  the  tailor  on  the  Heme 
Bay  beach,  forty  miles  from  home 
without  a  farthing  in  his  pocket. 

This  is  the  historic  incident  of  the 
Thames  which  I  desire  to  rescue  from 
the  oblivion  that  has  overtaken  many 
greater  matters.  Mr.  Sloper,  on  his 
return  to  Labour's  Retreat,  and  when 
he  was  somewhat  recovered  in  nerves 
and  health,  sued  Joe  Westlake  in  the 
Whitechapel  County  Court,  in  action 
of  tort,  laying  his  damages  at  the 
moderate  sum  of  fifty  pounds.  Mr. 
G.  E.  Williams,  for  the  defendant, 
contended  that  the  plaintiff  deserved 
the  treatment  which  he  had  brought 
on  himself,  and  the  Judge,  after  hear- 
ing the  evidence,  said  that  although 
the  plaintiff,  Sloper,  had  acted  most 
improperly  in  loading  his  guns,  the 
defendant,  Westlake,  had  retaliated 
too  severely,  but,  under  the  circum- 
stances, he  should  award  only  five 
pounds'  damages,  without  costs. 


Cornered! 


**  T  DON'T  see  no  signs  of  the  tug, 

I  do  you,  Tom  ? "  said  the  old 
skipper,  John  Bunk,  roHing  up 
to  me  from  the  companion  hatchway. 
He  was  fresh  from  the  cabin,  and  was 
rather  tipsy,  with  a  fixed  stare  and  a 
stately  manner,  though  his  legs  would 
have  framed  the  lower  part  of  an  egg. 
His  hat  was  tall,  and  brushed  the 
wrong  way.  He  wore  a  thick  shawl 
round  his  neck  and  was  wrapped  U]) 
in  a  long  monkey-jacket,  albeit  we 
were  in  the  dog-days.  In  a  word, 
Bunk  was  a  skipper  of  a  type  that  is 
fast  perishing  off  our  home  waters. 

"  No,"  said  I,  "  there  's  no  sign  of 
the  tug." 

"Then  bloomed,"  said  he,  "if  I 
don't  work  her  up  myself.  Who  's 
afraid  ?  I  know  the  ropes.  Get  amid- 
ships in  the  fair-way  and  keep  all  on, 
and  there  y'  are.  And  mubbe  the 
tug  '11  pick  us  up  as  we  go." 

"  It  's  all  one  to  Tom,"  said  I. 

Our  brig  was  the  Venus,  of  Rye,  a 
stump  topgallantmast  coaster,  eighty 
years  old.  W^e  were  in  a  big  bight  of 
28 


GornereO !  29 


the  coast,  heading  for  a  river  which 
flows  past  a  well  known  town,  whither 
we  were  bound.  The  bed  of  that 
river  went  in  a  vein  through  about 
three  miles  of  mud,  till  it  sheared  into 
the  land,  and  flowed  into  a  proper- 
looking  river  with  banks  of  its  own. 
At  flood  the  water  covered  the  mud, 
but  the  river  was  buoyed,  and  when 
once  you  had  the  land  on  either  hand 
and  the  bay  of  mud  astern,  the  pilot- 
age to  the  town  was  no  more  than  a 
matter  of  bracing  the  yards  about  till 
you  floated  into  one  long  reach  whose 
extremity  was  painted  by  the  red 
wharf  you  moored  alongside  of. 

We  were  six  of  a  ship's  company. 
John  Bunk  was  skipper,  I,  Tom  Fish, 
was  the  mate,  the  others  were  Bill 
Martin,  Jack  Stevens,  a  man  named 
Rooney,  and  a  boy  called  William. 
On  board  craft  of  this  sort  there  is 
very  little  discipline,  and  the  sailors 
talk  to  the  captain  as  though  he  lived 
in  the  forecastle. 

"  John,"  sings  out  Bill  Martin, 
casting  his  eyes  over  the  greasy  yel- 
low surface  of  the  water  streaming 
shorewards,  "  are  ye  going  to  try  for 
it  without  the  tug?  " 

**  Ay,"  answered  old  Bunk. 

"  And  quite  right,  tew.  No  good 
a-messing  about  here  all  day,"  says 
Jack  Stevens  at  the  tiller. 


30  CorncreD ! 


The  land  vvas  flat  and  treeless  on 
either  hand  the  river,  but  it  rose, 
about  a  couple  of  miles  off,  curving 
into  a  front  of  glaring  chalk,  with  a 
small  well  known  town  sparkling  in 
the  distance  like  a  handful  of  frost  in 
a  white  split.  The  horizon  astern 
was  broken  by  the  moving  bodies  of 
many  ships  in  full  sail,  and  the  sky 
low  down  was  hung  with  the  smoke 
of  vanished  steamers  as  though  the 
stuff  was  cobwebs  black  with  dust. 

The  stream  w-as  the  turn  of  the 
flood.  Old  Bunk  went  forward  into 
the  bows,  and  the  brig  flapped  for- 
wards creaking  like  a  basket  on  the 
small  roll  of  the  shallow  water.  We 
overhung  her  rails,  and  watched  for 
ourselves.  John  Bunk,  trying  to  look 
dignified  with  the  drink  in  him,  stared 
stately  ahead  ;  sometimes  singing  out 
to  the  helmsman  to  port,  and  then  to 
starboard,  and  so  we  washed  on, 
fairly  hitting  the  river's  mouth,  and 
stemming  safely  for  a  mile,  till  the 
flat  coast  was  within  an  easy  scull  of 
our  Jolly-boat,  and  you  saw  the  spire 
of  a  church,  and  a  few  red  roofs 
amidst  a  huddle  of  trees  on  the  right, 
at  that  time  two  miles  distant. 

Just  then  the  Venus  took  the  mud  ; 
she  grounded  just  as  a  huge  fat  sow 
knuckles  quietly  ere  stretching  her- 
self. 


ConicreD !  31 


"All  aback  forrard ! "  sings  out 
Bill  Martin,  with  a  loud  silly  laugh. 

We  were  a  brig  of  a  hundred  and 
eighty  tons,  and  there  was  nothing  to 
be  done  with  poling  ;  nor  was  kedg- 
ing  going  to  help  us  at  this  the  first 
quarter  of  ebb. 

"  Tom,"  says  John  Bunk,  coming 
aft  and  speaking  cheerfully,  "  there  's 
no  call  to  make  any  worrit  over  this 
shining  job.  The  tug  's  bound  to  be 
coming  along  afore  sundown,  anyhow. 
See  that  village  there?"  says  he, 
pointing.  "  My  brother  lives  in  that 
village,  at  a  public  house  of  his  own, 
called  the  '  Eight  Bells,'  and  seeing  as 
we  're  hard  and  fast,  I  shall  take  the 
boys  on  a  visit  to  him  and  leave  you 
and  William  to  look  arter  the  brig." 

"  Suppose  the  tug  should  come 
along?"  said  I. 

"  She  could  do  nothing  with  us  till 
the  flood  floats  us,"  said  he  ;  "I  shall 
let  go  the  anchor  for  securi'y  and  go 
ashore." 

He  talked  like  a  reckless  old  fool, 
but  was  tipsy,' and  in  no  temper  to 
reason  with.  The  situation  of  the 
brig  was  safe  enough  as  far  as  ocean 
and  weather  went  ;  nothing  could 
hurt  her  as  she  lay  mud-cradled  on 
her  fat  bilge.  We  clewed  up  and  let 
the  canvas  hang  by  its  rigging,  and 
then  dropped  the  anchor  ;  after  which 


32  CorneceJ) ! 


old  Bunk  and  the  others  cleaned 
themselves  up  and  got  the  boat  over, 
and  went  away  in  her,  singing  songs, 
leaving  me  and  William  to  look  after 
the  brig. 

It  was  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
a  very  fine  hot  day.  I  went  into  the 
cabin  for  a  smoke,  and  after  lounging 
an  hour  or  so  below  whilst  the  boy 
boiled  a  piece  of  beef  for  our  dinner, 
I  stepped  on  deck,  and  found  that 
the  sea  was  already  half-way  out  of 
the  bay  with  twenty  lines  of  foaming 
ripples  purring  not  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  off,  and  the  channel  of  the  river 
was  already  plain,  coming  out  from 
the  land,  and  through  the  dry  mud 
like  a  lane  of  water  till  it  met  the 
wash  of  the  yellow  brine  and  melted 
into  it.  The  brig  lay  with  an  un- 
comfortable list  to  starboard.  When 
the  mud  should  come  a-dry  it  would 
be  an  easy  jump  from  her  decks  to  it. 

At  half-p.ast  twelve  William  came 
below  with  my  dinner,  and  I  told  the 
lad  to  out  with  his  knife  and  eat  with 
me.  We  munched  together,  taking 
it  easy.  There  was  nothing  to  be 
done  on  deck,  no  sign  of  the  tug,  no 
use  we  could  put  her  to,  even  if  she 
should  heave  into  sight,  and  the  time 
hung  heavy.  After  dinner  I  lay  upon 
a  locker  smoking,  and  William  sat  at 
the  table  with  a  ])ij)e  in  his  mouth. 


CorncreD  I  33 


Presently  I  thought  I  heard  a  noise 
of  something  moving  in  a  scratching 
sort  of  way  on  deck.  I  listened  and 
then  heard  nothing.  A  little  later, 
happening  to  be  looking  at  William, 
I  heard  the  same  noise,  and  that 
moment  I  fancied  a  kind  of  shadow- 
passed  over  the  glass  of  the  grimy 
little  cabin   skylight. 

I  said  to  William  :  "  Step  on  deck, 
my  lad,  and  see  if  anybody  's  come 
aboard." 

He  went  up,  and  was  not  gone  a 
minute  when  I  heard  him  scream 
shockingly.  The  shriek  was  full  of 
terror  and  agony,  and  froze  my  blood. 
I  rushed  on  deck  and  saw  the  figure 
of  William  under  the  paw  of  a  large 
yellow  tiger !  I  stared  madly,  as 
though  my  senses  were  all  gone 
wrong  and  reporting  a  nightmare. 
But  the  big  beast,  turning  its  head, 
spied  me,  swept  the  planks  with  its 
tail,  crouched  in  cat-like  way,  and 
was  coming  for   me. 

With  a  roar  of  terror  I  sprang  for 
the  main  rigging,  and  in  a  few  breath- 
less moments  was  safe  in  the  top. 

It  was  all  sheer  mud  now  to  the 
very  forefoot  of  the  brig  ;  but  the 
half  of  her  lay  afloat  in  the  stream  of 
the  river.  I  saw  the  marks  of  the 
beast's  paws  pitting  the  shiny  surface 
of  ooze  and  sand  ;  the  trail  came  in 
3 


34  CorneceD! 


a  straight  line  from  the  land  to  the 
right  of  the  village  where  Bunk's 
brother  lived  to  the  starboard  bow 
of  the  brig.  The  beast  had  sprung 
easily  aboard.  We  were  not  in 
India,  nor  in  Africa,  nor  in  any- 
country  where  such  huge  yellow  hor- 
rors as  that  flourished  ;  therefore,  on 
recovering  my  wits  and  my  breath 
whilst  I  looked  down  over  the  rim  of 
the  top,  I  guessed  that  the  tiger  had 
broken  loose  from  some  show  or 
menagerie,  and  had  made  for  this 
desolate  waste  of  sand  to  escape  the 
hunt  that  was  doubtless  in  loud  cry 
after  him.  But  I  could  not  get  any 
comfort  into  me  out  of  the  reflection 
that  we  had  stranded  on  English 
instead  of  African  or  South  American 
mud  ;  down  on  deck,  now  crouching 
close  beside  the  boy  without,  how- 
ever, offering  to  touch  the  motionless 
figure,  was  a  massive  savage  beast, 
apparently  a  man-eater  ;  and  it  was 
all  the  same  to  me  whether  it  had 
sprung  aboard  off  the  banks  of  an 
Indian  river,  or  trotted  across  this 
breast  of  English  slime  out  of  a 
showman's  cage. 

' .  .The  boy  lay  as  though  dead,  and  I 
turned  sick,  fearing  to  see  the  creature 
eat  him.  I  was  going  to  call,  think- 
ing he  would  answer  me,  then  re- 
flected if  he  was  not  dead  my  voice 


CornercD !  35 


might  cause  him  to  move,  and  bring 
the  tiger  upon  him,  and  so  I  lay 
silent  in  the  top,  now  staring  down, 
then  glaring  round  upon  the  scene  of 
mud  and  at  the  distant  blue  crescent 
of  sea  for  the  help  that  was  nowhere 
visible. 

Presently  the  tiger  got  up,  and, 
passing  over  the  body  of  the  lad, 
stepped  with  its  supple  gait  into  the 
bows.  I  took  my  chance  of  shouting 
to  William,  but  the  lad  never  stirred. 
Again  and  again  I  yelled  down  at 
him,  and  I  saw  the  splendid,  horrible 
beast  in  the  bows  gnzing  at  me,  and 
still  the  lad  remained  lifeless.  He 
was  upon  his  face,  with  his  arms  out, 
as  though  his  hands  were  nailed  to 
the  deck.  I  looked  for  blood,  but 
saw  none. 

The  most  a.vful  time  that  ever 
passed  in  my  life  now  went  along. 
The  tiger  roamed  the  deck  silently, 
smelling  at  everything,  once  shoving 
its  huge  head  into  the  companion- 
way,  and  I  prayed  with  all  my  heart 
it  would  go  below,  that  I  might  skim 
to  the  hatch  and  secure  it.  It  drew 
its  head  out,  and  going  to  the  boy 
stopped  and  smelt  him.  The  very 
blood  in  me  was  curdled,  for  I  made 
sure  the  beast  was  about  to  eat  the 
lad.  Sometimes  I  broke  out  into  the 
noisiest  roarings  and  screaming  my 


36  CornereC) ! 


pipes  could  set  up  in  the  hope  of 
driving  the  brute  overboard. 

Between  five  and  six  o'clock  in  the 
evening  the  tide  had  made  so  as  to 
cover  the  mud,  and  I  saw  the  brig's 
boat  approaching.  Those  who  pulled 
flourished  their  oars  drunkenly.  The 
boat  came  to  a  stand  when  within 
easy  hailing  distance,  as  though  old 
Bunk  was  taking  a  view  of  me  as  I 
sat  in  the  top,  and  was  wondering 
what  I  did  there. 

I  roared  out  :  "  For  God's  sake 
mind  how  you  come  aboard  !  There's 
been  a  blooming  tiger  in  this  brig 
since  noon  !  " 

"  A  what  ?  "  yelled  Bunk,  and  the 
seamen  pulled  a  little  closer  in. 

It  was  still  broad  flaming  daylight, 
and  the  sun  hung  like  a  huge  blood- 
red  target  over  the  crimson  sea. 

"  A  what  ?  "  shrieked  Bunk. 

"  A  tiger  !  A  blooming  tiger  !  "  I 
bellowed,  pointing  to  the  brute  that 
lay  crouched  on  the  forecastle  hidden 
from  the  boat's  crew. 

"  Drank  again,  Tom  ?  or  is  it  sun- 
stroke this  time  ?  "  sung  out  old  Bunk, 
standing  up  in  the  boat  and  lurching 
to  the  rocking  of  her. 

"  It  's  killed  William  !  "  I  yelled. 

Wlien  I  said  this  the  beast,  attracted 
by  the  noise  of  voices  over  the  side. 


GornereD !  37 


got  up  and  looked  over  the  bulwark 
rail  at  the  men,  and  old  Bunk 
instantly  saw  it.  He  stared  for  a 
minute  or  two  as  though  he  had  been 
blasted  by  a  stroke  of  lightning. 
The  other  three  fellows  then  saw  the 
beast,  and  if  there  was  any  diink  in 
their  heads  the  fumes  of  it  flew  out  at 
that  sight,  and  left  them  sober  men. 
Their  postures  were  full  of  wild  sur- 
prise and  terror  whilst  they  gazed. 
Old  Bunk  roared  : 

"  Has  he  killed  the  boy,  d'  yer 
say  ? 

"  He  lies  there  dead,"  cried  I, 
pointing.  "  He  has  n't  moved  since 
I  first  saw  him." 

"  Has  he  been  eating  of  him  ?  " 

"  No  !  " 

"  We  must  go  ashore  for  help," 
sung  out  Jack  Stevens. 

"  For  God's  sake  don't  leave  me  up 
here  !  "  I  cried. 

"  Tom,"  shouted  Bunk,  "  there  's 
only  wan  thing  to  dew  ;  there  's  an 
old  gun  in  my  cabin,  and  yer  '11  find 
a  powder-flask  and  ball  in  the  locker. 
We  must  keep  that  tiger  a-watching 
of  us  over  the  bow,  whilst  you  run 
below  and  shut  the  hatch.  By  lifting 
the  lid  you  '11  be  able  to  shoot  him 
through  the  skylight.  Come  you 
down  now  as  far  as  you  durst  whilst 


38  CorncreD ! 


we  fixes  the  attention  of  the  brute 
upon  ourselves." 

I  at  once  dropped  into  the  rigging, 
where  I  stretched  and  played  my  legs 
a  bit.  They  were  as  stiff  as  hand- 
spikes after  that  long  spell  in  the 
maintop.  I  descended  as  low  down 
as  the  sheer-pole,  breathlessly  watch- 
ing. They  pulled  the  boat  under  the 
bow,  and  Bill  Martin  with  lifted  oar 
made  as  though  spearing  at  the 
brute's  head.  It  opened  its  huge 
mouth  and  showed  its  immense  claws 
upon  the  rail  ;  old  Bunk  hissed  and 
snapped  at  it,  then  roared  out  to 
me  : 

"  Now  's  your  time,  Tom,"  whilst  I 
heard  Jack  Stevens  sing  out : 

"  Back  astarn  !  The  fired  cat  's 
going  to  jump." 

With  the  nimbleness  of  terror  I 
dropped  to  the  deck  and  passed  like 
a  shadow  to  the  hatch,  unnoticed  by 
the  beast.  In  a  moment  I  closed  the 
companion  doors,  then  entering 
Bunk's  cabin  found  the  gun  and 
ammunition.  I  loaded  the  piece,  and, 
getting  on  to  the  cabin  table,  put  my 
head  into  the  skylight,  and  bawled 
out  to  let  the  others  know  that  I  was 
going  to  shoot.  My  voice  attracted 
the  tiger  ;  it  turned,  and  with  sway- 
ing   tail    came    with    velvet     tread, 


CornereD !  39 


crouching  in  a  springing  posture.  I 
levelled  the  gun,  steadying  the  barrel, 
and,  taking  a  cool,  deliberate  aim — for 
I  was  safe  ! — fired,  and  the  instant  1 
had  fired,  without  pausing  to  see  what 
had  happened,  I  loaded  again  ;  but 
before  1  could  present  the  piece  for  a 
second  shot  the  beast,  who  was  now 
on  this  side  the  boy,  lurched  and  fell. 

I  fired  a  second  ball  into  it,  and 
then  a  third  and  a  fourth,  and  now 
shouting  to  let  the  men  know  the 
brute  was  wounded  and  dying,  I  ran 
on  deck,  and  putting  the  muzzle  of 
the  gun  to  the  creature's  glazing  eye, 
fired,  and  this  did  its  business,  for 
just  one  spasm  ran  through  it,  and 
then  the  terrible,  muscular  bulk  lay 
motionless. 

The  men  came  scrambling  aboard. 
We  turned  the  boy  over,  and  took 
him  below.  Shortly  afterwards  the 
tug  hove  in  sight,  and  we  let  the 
beast  lie  whilst  we  got  our  anchor 
and  manoeuvred  with  the  tow-rope. 
I  am  sorry  to  say  the  boy  was  dead. 
On  our  arrival  a  doctor  came  and 
looked  at  him,  and  a  crowd  tumbled 
aboard  to  view  the  beast.  There  was 
not  a  scratch  on  the  lad  ;  the  tiger 
had  never  touched  him  ;  the  doctor 
said  he  had  died  of  syncope  caused 
by  fright. 


40  CorncreCt 


The  owner  of  the  tiger  threatened 
old  Bunk  with  the  law,  and  asked  for 
a  hundred  guineas.  Bunk  started 
William's  mother  upon  him  for  com- 
pensation for  the  loss  of  her  boy,  and 
shortly  afterwards  the  showman  went 
broke. 


A  Midnio-Jit    Visitor, 


THERE  are  more  terrors  at 
sea  than  shipwreck  and  fire, 
more  frights  and  horrors, 
mateys,  than  famine,  blindness,  and 
cholera,"  said  the  old  seaman  with 
a  slow  motion  of  his  eyes  round 
upon  the  little  company  of  sailors. 
"I  remember  a  line  of  poetry — *a 
thing  of  beauty  is  a  joy  for  ever.' 
Can  any  man  here  tell  me  who  wrote 
that?  Well,  I  suppose  it  is  a  joy  so 
long  as  it  remains  a  beauty,  but  d'  ye 
see  it 's  got  to  remain,  and  that 's  the 
job. 

"Yet,  mates,  if  there  is  a  thing  of 
beauty  that  should  be  a  joy  to  every 
heart,  it  is  a  full-rigged  ship,  clothed 
in  white,  asleep  in  the  light  of  the 
moon,  on  a  pale  and  silent  breast  of 
ocean  that  waves  in  splendour  under 
the  planet  over  the  flying  jibboom 
end.  Have  I  got  such  a  ship  as  that 
in  my  mind?  Ay.  And  was  it  a 
sheet  calm  but  ne'er  a  moon?  Ay, 
again.  There  was  ne'er  a  moon  that 
night.  The  ship  rose  faint  and 
41 


42  21  /iftiMiicibt  ll>isltor 

hushed  to  the  stars.  It  was  one  bell 
in  the  morning  watch.  Scarce  air 
enough  moved  to  give  life  to  the  top- 
most canvas  ;  as  the  sliip  bowed  upon 
the  light  swell  the  sails  swung  in  and 
swung  out  with  a  rushing  sound  of 
many  wings  up  in  the  gloom.  Yet 
the  vessel  had  steerage  way  in  that 
hour.  Shall  I  tell  you  why  ?  Because 
I  know  ! 

*'  And  ere  that  full-rigged  ship  alone 
in  the  middle  of  the  Indian  Ocean 
came  to  a  dead  halt,  life  sinking  in 
her  with  the  failing  of  the  wind  in  a 
sort  of  dying  shudder  from  royal  to 
course,  this  was  how  her  decks 
showed  :  a  man  was  at  the  wheel,  the 
chief  mate  leaned  against  the  rail  in 
the  thickness  made  by  the  mizzen 
rigging,  and  with  folded  arms  seemed 
to  doze  in  the  shadow  ;  a  '  young 
gentleman,'  as  they  used  to  call  the 
'  brass-bounders,'  loafed  sleepily  near 
the  main  shrouds  where  the  break  of 
the  poop  came.  That  youngster 
watched  the  stars  trembling  between 
the  squares  of  the  starboard  rigging. 
He  was  new  to  the  sea,  and  emotion 
and  sentiment  were  still  sweet — they 
were  not  salt  in  him.  He  was  the 
son  of  a  gentleman — he  had  a  clever 
eye  for  what  was  picturesque  and 
romantic,  for  what  was  tender  and 
affecting  in  all  he  beheld,  whether  by 


B  /iftiDmgbt  Visitor  43 

day  or  night,  whether  he  looked  aloft 
or  whether  upon  the  mighty  breast  of 
brine — he  should  have  done  well :  he 
oughter  ha'  done  well." 

The  grey-haired  respectable  sea- 
man closed  his  eyes  in  a  silence  filled 
with  significance,  and  after  a  short 
smoke  thus  proceeded  : 

"  Some  of  the  watch  on  deck 
sprawled  about  in  the  shadow  out  of 
sight,  curled  up,  asleep ;  only  one 
figure  was  upright  forward.  "F  was 
the  shape  of  the  man  on  the  look-out. 
For  all  the  world  he  postured  like  the 
mate  aft,  as  though  he  copied  the 
officer  for  a  life  or  death  bet  :  head 
sunk,  arms  folded— the  forecastle 
break  brought  that  raised  deck  well 
aft,  and  the  look-out  had  the  shadow 
of  the  starboard  fore-rigging  upon 
him. 

"This  man  thus  standing,  by  no 
means  asleep,  yet  with  his  head  sunk 
and  no  doubt  his  eyes  closed,  was 
suddenly  struck  on  the  side  of  the 
face  by  something  hairy,  damp,  and 
cold.  He  sprang  into  the  air  as 
though  he  had  been  shot  through  the 
heart.  O  heavens !  What  was  it  ? 
A  naked  figure,  shaggy  as  Peter  Sar- 
rano,  wild  with  hair,  furious  with  a 
grin,  terrible  with  the  red  gleams 
the  starlight  flung  upon  his  little  eyes. 
The  sailor  shrieked  like  a  midnight 


44  B  /I^i^nu^bt  Disitor 

cat  and  fell  in  a  heap  down  upon  the 
deck  in  a  fit. 

"The  ship  was  in  commotion  in  an 
instant.  Such  a  yell  as  that  was  worse 
than  the  smell  of  fire. 

"  '  What 's  the  matter  ? '  bawled  the 
mate  from  the  break  of  the  poop. 

"  A  number  of  shadowy  shapes 
swarmed  up  the  forecastle  ladder. 
Meanwhile  the  watch  below,  aroused 
by  the  yell  of  the  look-out  man,  sus- 
pecting imminent  deadly  danger  in 
the  peculiar  noise,  were  leaping  in 
twos  and  threes  up  through  the  fore- 
scuttle,  growling  and  swearing  and 
grumbling,  and  asking  of  one  another 
in  those  deep  hurricane-chested  whis- 
pers which  will  make  a  stagnant  mid- 
night atmosphere  tingle,  what  the 
blooming  blazes  that  noise  was,  and 
what  was  up. 

"  '  What 's  the  matter  ?  '  roared  the 
mate. 

"  '  Here  's  Kennedy  in  a  fit,  sir,' 
sung  out  a  voice. 

"  '  Is  that  all  ?  '  said  the  mate,  and 
he  went  forward  to  look  at  the  man. 

"  '  It 's  a  fit  certainly,'  said  he. 
'  Give  him  air,  lads.  Get  a  drink  of 
cold  water  into  his  mouth.  It  's  epi- 
lepsy.' 

"  '  Or  weevils,'  said  a  deep  voice. 

"The  joker  was  not  to  be  dis- 
cerned ;  the  mate  therefore  took  no 


B  /HbiDniflbt  Disitor  45 


notice.  Some  one  brought  a  pannikin 
of  cold  water,  and  after  a  little  the 
man  came  to,  by  which  time  the  watch 
below  had  returned  to  their  ham- 
mocks, and  the  forecastle  was  com- 
paratively clear. 

"  When  the  mate  was  told  the  man 
had  his  senses  and  was  sitting  up,  he 
went  forward  again  and  questioned 
him.  He  was  sitting  on  the  foot  of  a 
cathead,  and  was  too  weak  to  rise 
when  the  mate  stood  before  him. 

"  '  What  is  this  you  're  rambling 
about?'  said  the  officer.  'Are  n't 
you  quite  well  yet  ? ' 

"  '  S'  'elp  me  then,  it  slapped  me 
fair  over  the  chops,  like  flicking  yer 
with  the  wet  sleeve  of  a  jacket.  He 
rose  four  foot  when  I  swounded.  He 
might  ha'  been  more  an'  he  might  ha' 
been  less.  Darkness  put  him  out, 
only  that  I  recollect,'  said  the  man, 
turning  up  his  pale  face  to  the  stars, 
'taking  notice  of  a  couple  of  eyes 
like  red  lights  floating  in  water  and 
a  grin  of  teeth  wide  as  the  keys  of 
a  pianey.' 

"  'He  's  mad,'  thought  the  mate, 
who  stepped  nevertheless  into  the 
bows  and  looked  over.  Nothing  was 
to  be  seen.  He  surveyed  the  ocean 
by  the  light  of  the  stars,  and  glanced 
along  the  deck  and  up  aloft,  then  told 
the   look-out  man   to    go  below  and 


46  B  iHbiMiigbt  Disitor 

turn  in,  and  went  aft,  reckoning  the 
thing  an  epileptic's  nightmare. 

"  '  It  soaks  into  their  livers  ashore,' 
thought  he,  as  he  leisurely  mounted 
the  poop  ladder,  '  and  when  they  get 
upon  the  ocean  and  into  hot  weather 
it  works  out  in  slaps  over  the  head 
and  hairy  sea-beasts  four  feet  high. 
Ha  !  ha  !  ha  ! '  and  he  laughed 
drowsily  as  he  walked  to  the  wheel. 

"  Just  then  a  catspaw  blew.  It  was 
so  faint  that  it  scarcely  chilled  the 
moistened  forefinger  of  the  officer.  It 
had  to  be  reckoned  with  nevertheless; 
it  was  an  air  of  wind  anyhow,  and 
some  one  sung  out  that  the  ship  was 
aback  forward,  on  which  the  mate 
went  to  the  break  of  the  poop,  and 
yelled  to  the  seamen  to  trim  sail. 
Something  went  wrong  in  swinging 
the  yards  on  the  fore. 

"  '  Jump  aloft,  a  hand,  and  clear 
it.' 

"  A  seaman  went  up  the  rigging, 
his  shadowy  shape  vanished  in  the 
gloom  that  blackened  like  a  thunder- 
cloud upon  the  foretop  ;  he  showed 
again  when  he  got  into  the  topmast 
rigging,  with  his  figure  small,  and 
clear-cut  against  the  stars. 

"  Suddenly,  when  midway  the  rig- 
ging he  yelled  at  the  top  of  his  voice. 
His  cry  was  more  dismal  and  heart- 
shaking  than  even  that  with  which  the 


a  /BblDnlGbt  Disitor  47 

man  Kennedy  had  terrified  the  ship  ; 
he  caught  hold  of  a  backstay,  and 
sank  to  the  bulwark  rail,  as  though 
handsomely  lowered  away  in  a  bow- 
line. 

"  '  By  Cott  ! '  he  roared,  flinging 
down  his  cap,  whilst  those  who 
peered  close  saw  tliat  he  trembled 
violently,  '  der  toyfel  is  on  boardt  dis 
ship.  I  have  seen  her  mit  mine  eyes. 
If  I  hov  not  seen  her  den  I  was  a 
nightmare  und  she  was  mad.  Look 
up  dar.' 

"  He  obtained  no  answer.  The 
seamen  attending  the  indication  of 
the  Dutchman  were  to  a  man  gazing 
aloft  with  hanging  chins  ;  for  on  high 
up  in  the  cross-trees,  a  visible  bulk 
of  shadow,  there  sat,  squatted,  hung 
— what?  A  man?  No  angel  from 
heaven  surely  ?  A  demon  then  with 
folded  wings  like  those  of  a  bat  rest- 
ing in  his  flight  from  the  halls  of  fire 
to  some  star  of  Satan  ?  Mateys,  if 
you  think  this  language  too  poetical, 
I  '11  translate  my  thought  into  fok'sle 
speech.  But  I  'd  rather  leave  the  job 
to  others,"  said  the  grey-haired  re- 
spectable seaman  ;  "  I  've  forgotten 
the  profanities  of  the  sea-parlour.  I 
have  not  used  a  bad  word  for  thirty 
year." 

Some  interruption  by  laughter  at- 
tended this  flight.     The  grey-haired 


48  B  iTftiC>nigbt  Disitor 

sailor  looked  round  him  with  his 
slow  critical  motion  of  eye,  and  con- 
tinued : 

"'What  's  wrong  aloft  forrad 
there?'  bawled  the  mate,  and  now 
he  sung  out  with  energy  and  decision, 
for  the  figure  of  the  captain  was 
alongside  of  him. 

"  '  There  's  something  aloft  that 
looks  like  a  man,'  howled  a  seaman, 
one  of  the  upstaring  crowd  about 
the  Dutchman.  'Come  forrad,  sir. 
You  '11  see  him.' 

"  The  mate  and  the  captain  went 
forward  and  looked  up. 

"  '  It  's  a  man,'  exclaimed  the  cap- 
tain. '  Aloft  there  !  What  are  you 
doing  skylarking  up  in  those  cross- 
trees  ?  Come  down  !  '  he  cried, 
angrily. 

"  '  You  sick-hearts,  what  d'  ye  see  to 
stare  at,  or  seeing,  why  don't  you  go 
for  it?'  thundered  the  mate,  after  a 
])ause,  during  which  the  figure  on 
high  had  made  no  answer  or  motion, 
and  as  he  spoke  the  words  the  officer 
bounded  on  to  the  bulwarks,  and  ran 
up  the  fore-shrouds. 

"  He  travelled  with  heroic  speed 
till  he  got  as  high  as  the  foretoj). 
There  he  stood  at  gaze  ;  presently, 
after  you  might  have  counted  fifty, 
])utting  his  foot  into  the  topmast  rig- 
ging he  began  to  crawl,  with  frequent 


B  /BblDnigbt  Disltor  49 

breathless  stops  ;  his  passage  up 
those  shrouds  had  the  dying  uncer- 
tainty of  the  tread  of  a  blue-bot- 
tle when  it  climbs  a  sheet  of  glass  in 
October. 

"  On  a  sudden  he  came  down  into 
the  top  very  fast.  There  he  stood 
staring  aloft  as  though  fascinated  or 
electrified,  then  putting  his  foot  over 
the  top  he  got  into  the  fore-shrouds, 
and  trotted  down  on  deck,  all  very 
quick.  The  captain  stood  near  the 
main  hatch,  looking  up.  The  mate 
approached  him,  and,  in  a  whisper 
of  awe  and  terror,  exclaimed,  whilst 
his  eyes  sought  the  shadow  up  in  the 
foretopmast  cross-trees,  '  I  believe 
the  Dutchman  's  right,  sir,  and  that 
we  've  been  boarded  by  the  devil 
himself.' 

"  '  What  are  you  talking  about  ?' 

" '  I  never  saw  the  like  of  such  a 
thing,'  said  the  mate,  in  shaking 
tones. 

"  'Is  it  a  man  ? '  said  the  captain, 
staring  up  with  amazement,  while  the 
seamen  came  hustling  close  in  a 
sneaking  way  to  listen,  and  the 
Dutchman  drew  close  to  the  mate. 

"  *  It  has  the  looks  of  a  man,'  said 
the  mate  ;  '  yet  it  sha'n't  be  murder  if 
you  kill  him.' 

"  *  She  vos  no  man,  sir.  I  vos 
close.  I  vent  closer  don  you.  I  ox- 
4 


50  B  /iftiOnitjbt  IDlBitoc 

pect,  sir,'  said  the  Dutchman,  '  she  's 
an  imp.  Strange  dot  I  did  not  see 
him  till  I  was  upon  her.' 

"The  captain  went  swiftly  to  his 
cabin  for  a  binocular  glass.  The 
lenses  helped  him  to  determine  the 
motionless  shadow  in  the  cross-trees, 
and  he  clearly  distinguished  an  ap- 
parently large  human  shape,  but  in 
what  fashion,  or  whether  or  not  hab- 
ited, it  was  impossible  to  see.  How 
had  he  come  into  the  ship?  The 
captain  went  on  to  the  poop  and 
searched  the  silent  sea  with  the  glass 
with  some  fancy  of  finding  a  boat 
within  reach  of  his  vision.  Nothing 
was  to  be  seen  but  the  glass-smooth 
face  of  the  deep,  with  here  and  there 
the  light  of  a  large  trembling  star 
draining  into  it.  The  catspaw  had 
died  out,  and  it  mattered  nothing 
whether  they  braced  the  fore-yards 
round  or  not. 

"  It  got  wind  in  the  forecastle  that 
something  wild,  unearthly,  hellish, 
was  aloft,  and  the  watch  below 
turned  out,  too  restless  to  sleep,  and 
all  through  those  hours  of  darkness 
the  sailors  walked  the  decks  in 
grouj^s,  again  and  again  staring  up  at 
the  foretopmast  cross-trees,  where 
the  mysterious  bulk  of  blackness 
sate,  squatted,  or  hung  motionless, 
like  some  brooding  fiend,  or  incarna- 


U  /nbiOnigbt  Dtsltor  51 

tion  of  ill-luck,  sinking  by  force  of 
meditation  its  curses  not  loud,  but 
deep,  into  the  bottom  of  the  very 
hold  itself. 

"'Why  don't  the  captain  let  me 
shoot  him  ? '  said  the  second  mate 
at  four  o'clock.  '  I  cannot  miss  that 
mark  ;  my  rifle  will  bring  him  to 
your  feet  at  the  cost  of  a  single 
shot.' 

" '  No,'  said  the  chief  mate,  *  I  've 
talked  of  trying  what  shooting  will 
do.  The  cajjtain  means  to  wait  for 
sunlight.  But  how  did  it  get  on 
board  ? '  said  he,  sinking  his  voice  in 
awe.  'There  's  no  land  for  hundreds 
of  leagues.  Is  it  some  sort  of  human 
sea-monster,  some  merman  whose 
looks  blind  you  with  their  ugliness, 
which  this  ship  's  been  doomed  to 
discover,  and  jjerhajjs  carry  home  1 ' 

"  It  was  not  long  before  day  whit- 
ened the  east.  In  those  climates  the 
morning  is  a  quick  revelation,  and 
hardly  had  the  dawn  broke  when  sea 
and  sky  were  lighted  up.  And  then, 
and  even  then,  what  was  it  ?  There 
it  sat  up  in  the  cross-trees,  a  hairy, 
sulky  bulk  of  man  or  beast,  black, 
and  the  creature  looked  hard  down 
whilst  all  hands  were  staring  hard 
up. 

'"Seized  if  it  is  n't  a  gorilla!' 
said  *-he  mate. 


52  B  iTRiDnigbt  IDisttor 

"  '  No.'  said  the  captain,  letting 
fall  his  binocular,  'look  for  your- 
self. Yet,  it  's  not  a  man,  either.' 
He  burst  into  a  laugh  as  though  for 
relief.  '  It  's  a  huge,  hairy  baboon, 
one  of  the  biggest  I  ever  saw  in  my 
life.  He  '11  be  as  fierce  as  a  muti- 
nous crew,  and  strong  as  a  frigate's 
complement.  What  's  to  be  done 
with  him  ?  ' 

"  '  How  in  Egypt  did  he  come  on 
board  ? '  said  the  mate,  viewing  the 
beast  through  the  glass. 

"  '  By  that,  maybe,  sir,'  exclaimed 
the  second  mate,  pointing  to  some 
object  floating  flat  and  yellow,  faint 
and  far  out  upon  the  starboard  quar- 
ter. 

"  The  captain  levelled  the  ship's 
telescope.  '  A  large  raft !  '  he  ex- 
claimed, after  some  minutes  of  silent 
examination.  '  Take  a  boat  and  ex- 
amine it  ' 

"  A  quarter-boat  was  lowered,  and 
the  second  mate  and  four  men  pulled 
away  for  the  raft  in  the  distance.  It 
was  a  very  large  raft,  manifestly 
launched  by  some  country  wallah  in 
the  last  throes  :  a  complicate  huge 
grating,  or  floating  platform,  of  im- 
mensely thick  bamboos  and  spare 
spars,  secured  by  turns  of  Manilla  or 
coir  rope.     It  was  clean  swept ;  not  a 


B  /IftiDnifibt  Disitor  53 

rag  was  to  be  seen.  Whether  the 
sufferers  had  been  taken  off,  leaving 
the  baboon  behind  them,  whether 
they  had  died,  and  the  wash  of  the 
ocean  had  slij^ped  their  bodies  over- 
board, the  baboon  holding  on  to  the 
raft,  who  was  to  tell  ?  '  At  sea,'  said 
Lord  Nelson,  'nothing  is  impossible 
and  nothing  improbable.' 

"  The  raft  had  floated  to  the  bows 
of  the  ship  in  the  silent  midnight, 
and  the  baboon  sprang  aboard  and 
aloft. 

"  The  creature  on  high  was  a  clear 
picture  in  the  bright  sunshine.  It 
made  many  dreadful  grimaces,  by 
the  exhibition  of  its  teeth,  and  when 
the  boat  drew  alongside  it  moved  and 
stood  up,  and  showed  a  great  tail, 
then  hung  with  one  fist,  looking  down. 
It  next  descended  with  the  velocity  of 
wind  into  the  foretop. 

"  The  captain  said  :  '  The  beast 
don't  seem  faint,  but  I  guess  he  's 
thirsty,  and  he  may  fall  mad,  come 
down,  and  bite  some  of  us.  So,'  says 
he  to  the  chief  officer,  *  send  a  hand 
aloft  with  a  bucket  of  fresh  water  for 
the  poor  brute  and  a  pocketful  of 
ship's  bread.  If  we  can  civilise  him, 
so  much  the  better.' 

"But  it  never  came  to  it,"  said 
the  grey-haired   respectable  seaman. 


54  21  /IftlDnfcibt  liMsitor 


"  The  creature  fled  to  the  cross-trees 
nimble  as  light  wlien  he  saw  a  couple 
of  seamen  mounting  to  the  top,  then 
descended,  and  ate  and  drank  raven- 
ously when  they  had  come  down, 
which  feeding  murdered  him,  and 
ruined  the  captain's  hopes  of  carry- 
ing the  fellow  to  London  and  selling 
him  at  a  large  price  to  the  Zoological 
Gardens.  For  he  refused  to  come 
on  deck.  He  bared  his  teeth,  and  his 
eyes  shone  with  the  malice  of  hell  if 
the  men  attempted  to  approach  him. 
It  was  impossible  to  let  him  rest  aloft 
throughout  the  night  to  command  the 
ship,  so  to  speak ;  for  he  might  sink 
to  the  deck  stealthy  as  the  shadow  of 
a  cloud  blown  by  the  wind,  and  he 
was  strong  enough  and  big  enough 
to  tear  a  sleeping  man's  throat  out. 

*' '  He  must  be  shot,'  said  the  cap- 
tain, and  he  told  the  second  mate  to 
fetch  his  rifle. 

"  The  second  mate,  that  he  might 
make  sure  of  his  aim,  went  aloft  into 
the  foretop.  The  beast  was  then  sit- 
ting on  the  topgallant  yard.  He  had 
been  in  command  of  the  fabric  of  the 
fore  all  day.  Had  it  come  on  to  blow 
so  as  to  oblige  the  captain  to  shorten 
sail,  the  deuce  a  seaman  durst  have 
gone  aloft  to  stow  the  canvas.  The 
second  mate,  standing  in  the  top,  was 


B  /IIM^ni(^^.■»t  Disltor  55 


in  the  act  of  lifting  his  rifle,  when  the 
monster,  running  on  all  fours  out  to 
the  dizzy  topgallant  yard-arm,  stood 
erect  a  breathless  instant,  poised — in 
human  posture — a  marvellous  picture 
of  the  man-beast  against  the  liquid 
blue,  then  sprang  into  the  air. 

Corne  down,'  roared  the  captain 
to  the  second  mate,  '  and  shoot  him 
through  the  head,  for  God's  sake  ! ' 

"  As  the  beast  rose  with  a  wild  grin 
after  having  been  so  long  out  of  sight 
through  the  frightful  height  he  had 
jumped  from,  you  'd  have  thought 
he  'd  have  risen  with  a  burst  skin, 
the  captain  bawled  out,  '  Blessed  if 
he  's  not  making  for  his  raft.' 

"  The  baboon,  with  a  fixed  expres- 
sion, and  with  eyes  askew  upon  the 
ship  as  he  drove  past,  swimming 
very  finely  with  long  easy  flourishes 
of  his  arms  and  dexterous  thrusts  of 
his  legs,  whilst  the  end  of  his  tail 
stood  up  astern  of  him  as  though  it 
was  some  comical  little  man  there 
steering, — the  baboon,  I  say,  was  un- 
doubtedly and  with  amazing  sagacity 
making  straight  for  the  raft,  having 
taken  its  bearings  when  aloft  ;  but  at 
the  moment  the  second  mate  knelt 
to  level  his  piece,  meaning  to  murder 
the  poor  brute  out  of  pure  mercy,  the 
thing  uttered,   oh,  my  God  !  what  a 


56  a  /UbiDnigbt  Disitor 


horrible  cry  !  and  vanished,  and  a 
quantity  of  blood  rose  and  dyed  a 
bright  patch  upon  the  calm  blue.  No 
more  was  seen  of  the  baboon,  but  a 
little  later  the  black  scythe-like  fins 
of  three  sharks  showed  in  the  spot 
where  he  had  disappeared." 


Plums  from  a  Sailor  s 
Duf. 

IT  has  been  commonly  expected  of 
sailors  in  all  ages  that  they  should 
encounter     nothing     upon     the 
ocean  but  hair-breadth  escapes.  The 
theory  is  that  the  mariner  but  half 
discharges  his  duties   when  his   ex- 
periences are  limited  to  his  work  as 
a  seaman.    That  he  may  be  fully  and 
perfectly   accomplished  vocationally 
he  must  know  what  it  is  to  have  been 
cast  away,  to  have  barely  come  off  with 
his  Hfe  out  of  a  ship  on  fire,  to  have 
been  overboard  on  many  occasions  in 
heavy  seas,  to  have  chewed  pieces  of 
lead   in    open    boats   to  assuage  his 
thirst — to  have  encountered,  in  short, 
most   of    the    stock  horrors   of    the 
oceanic  calling.     Considering,  how- 
ever, that  the  sailor  goes  to  sea  hold- 
ing   his    life   in   his  hands,  I  cannot 
but  think  that  his  mere  occupation  is 
perilous    enough    to    satisfy   the    ro- 
mantic  demands  of   the    shoregoing 
dreamer.     It  is  feigned  that  the  sea- 
57 


58     ipiums  from  a  Sallor'ss  H)uff 

faring  life  is  not  one  jot  more  dan- 
gerous than  most  of  the  laborious 
callings  followed  ashore.  Let  no  man 
credit  this.  The  sailor  never  springs 
aloft,  never  slides  out  to  a  yard-arm, 
never  gives  battle  to  the  thunderous 
canvas,  scarcely  performs  a  duty,  in- 
deed, that  does  not  contain  a  distinct 
menace  to  his  life.  That  the  calling 
has  less  of  danger  in  it  in  these  days 
than  it  formerly  held  I  will  not  un- 
dertake to  determine.  If  in  former 
times  ships  put  to  sea  destitute  of  the 
scientific  equipment  which  character- 
ises the  fabrics  of  this  age,  the  mari- 
ner supplied  the  deficiencies  of  the 
shipyard  by  caution  and  patience. 
He  was  never  in  a  hurry.  He  waited 
with  a  resigned  countenance  upon 
the  will  of  the  wind.  He  plied  his 
lead  and  log-line  with  indefatigable 
diligence.  There  was  no  prompt  de- 
spatch in  his  day,  no  headlong  thun- 
dering, through  weather  as  thick  as 
mud  in  a  wineglass,  to  reach  his  port. 
We  have  diminished  many  of  the 
risks  he  ran  through  imperfect  appli- 
ances, but,  on  the  other  hand,  we 
have  raised  a  plentiful  stock  of  our 
own,  so  that  the  balance  between 
then  and  now  shows  pretty  level. 

My  seafaring  experiences  covered 
about  eight  years,  and  they  hit  a  tra- 
ditional period  of  immense  moment 


lplum-5  from  a  Sailor'^  2)uff      59 


• — I  mean  the  gradual  transformation 
of  the  marine  fabric  from  wood  into 
iron.  I  was  always  afloat  in  wood, 
however,  and  never  knew  what  it  was 
to  have  an  iron  plate  between  me 
and  the  yearning  wash  of  the  brine 
outside  until  I  went  on  a  voyage 
to  Natal  and  back  in  a  big  ocean 
steamer  that  all  day  long  throbbed 
to  the  maddened  heart  in  her  engine 
room,  like  some  black  and  gleaming 
leviathan  rendered  hysterical  by 
the  lances  of  whalers  feeling  for  its 
life,  and  all  night  stormed  through 
the  dark  ocean  shadow  like  a  body 
of  fire,  faster  than  a  gale  of  wind 
could  in  my  time  have  driven  the 
swiftest  clipper  keel  that  furrowed 
blue  water. 

What  hair-breadth  escapes  did  I 
meet  with  ?  I  have  been  asked.  Was 
I  ever  marooned  ?  Ever  cast  awav,  as 
Jack  says,  on  the  top  crust  of  a  half- 
penny loaf  ?  Ever  overboard  among 
sharks  ?  Ever  gazing  madly  round 
the  horizon,  the  sole  occupant  of  a 
frizzling  boat,  in  search  of  a  ship 
where  I  might  obtain  water  to  cool 
my  blue  and  frothing  lips  ?  Well,  my 
duff  is  not  a  very  considerable  one, 
and  the  few  plums  in  it  I  fear  are 
almost  wide  enough  apart  to  be  out 
of  hail  of  one  another.  However  a 
sample  or  two  will  suffice  to  enable 


6o      ipiums  trom  a  SaUor'5  Duff 

me  to  keep  my  word  and  to  write 
something  at  all  events  autobio- 
graphic. 

So  let  us  start  off  Cape  Horn  on  a 
July  day  in  the  year  of  grace  1859. 
The  ship  was  a  fine  old  Australian 
liner,  a  vessel  of  hard  upon  1400 
tons,  a  burden  that  in  those  days  con- 
stituted a  large  craft.  She  was  com- 
manded by  one  Captain  Neatby, 
something  of  a  favourite  1  believe  in 
the  passenger  trade — a  careful  old 
man  with  bow-legs  and  a  fiery  grog- 
blossom  of  a  nose.  He  wore  a  tall 
chimney-pot  hat  in  all  weathers,  and 
was  reckoned  a  very  careful  man  be- 
cause he  always  furled  his  fore  and 
mizzen  royals  in  the  first  dog-watch 
every  night.  We  were  a  long  way 
south  ;  I  cannot  remember  the  exact 
latitude,  but  I  know  it  Avas  drawing 
close  upon  sixty  degrees.  There  was 
a  talk  in  the  midshipmen's  berth 
amongst  us  that  the  captain  was  trying 
his  hand  at  the  great  Circle  course, 
but  none  of  us  knew  much  about  it 
down  in  that  gloomy,  'tween-decks, 
slush-flavoured  cavern  in  which  we 
youngsters  lived.  I  was  fourteen  years 
old,  homeward  bound  on  my  first 
voyage  ;  a  little  bit  of  a  midshipman, 
burnt  dry  by  Pacific  suns,  with  a 
mortal  hatred  and  terror  of  the  wild, 
inexpressibly  bitter  cold  of  the  roar- 


Iplums  from  a  Sailoc'ss  5)uff      6i 


ing    ice-loaded    parallels    in    whose 
Antarctic  twilight  our  noble  ship  was 
plunging   and   rolling   now   under  a 
fragment  of  maintopsail,  now  under 
a  reefed  foresail  and  double-reefed 
foretopsail,  chased  by  the  shrieking 
western  gale  that  flew  like  volleys  of 
scissors  and    thumbscrews   over  our 
taffrail,  and  by  seas,  whose  glittering, 
flickering   peaks    one   looked    up    at 
from  the  neighbourhood  of  the  wheel 
as  at  the  brows  of  tall  and  beetling 
cliffs.     The  gale  was  white  with  snow, 
and  dark  with  the  blinding  fall  of  it 
too,  when  I  came  on  deck  at  noon. 
I  was   in    the  chief  mate's,  or  port 
watch,  as  it  is  called.     The  ship  was 
running  under  a  double-reefed  topsail 
— in  those  days  we  carried  single  sails, 
— reefed    foresail,  close-reefed  fore- 
topsail,    and    maintopmast    staysail. 
The  snow  made  a  London  fog  of  the 
atmosphere  ;    forward  of   the   galley 
the  ship  was  out  of  sight  at   times 
when  it  came  thundering  down  out  of 
the  blackness  aft,  white  as  any  smother 
of    spume.       She    pitched   with   the 
majesty  of  a  line-of-battle  ship,  as  she 
launched    herself    in    long    floating 
rushes   from    gleaming    pinnacle    to 
seething  valley  with  a  heavy,  melan- 
choly sobbing  of  water  all  about  her 
decks,    and    her    narrow,    distended 
band  of  maintopsail  hovering  over- 


62     iplums  from  a  Sailor's  Buff 

head  black  as  a  raven's  pinion  in  the 
flying  hoariness.  We  were  washing 
through  it  at  twelve  or  thirteen  knots 
an  hour,  though  the  ship  was  as  stiff 
as  a  madman  in  a  strait-jacket,  with 
the  compressed  wool  in  her  hold  and 
loaded  down  to  her  main-chain  bolts 
besides.  By  two  bells  (one  o'clock) 
forward  of  the  break  of  the  poop  the 
decks  were  deserted,  though  now  and 
again,  amidst  some  swiftly  passing 
flaw  in  the  storm  of  snow,  you  might 
just  discern  the  gleaming  shapes  of 
two  men  on  the  look-out  on  the  fore- 
castle, with  the  glimpse  of  a  figure  in 
the  foretop,  also  on  the  watch  for 
anything  that  might  be  ahead.  The 
captain  in  his  tall  hat  was  stumping 
the  deck  to  and  fro  close  against  the 
wheel,  cased  in  a  long  pilot  coat, 
under  the  skirts  of  which  his  legs,  as 
he  slewed  round,  showed  like  the 
lower  limb  of  the  letter  O.  Through 
the  closed  skylight  windows  I  could 
get  a  sort  of  watery  view  of  the  cuddy 
passengers — as  they  were  then  called 
— reading,  playing  at  chess,  playing 
the  piano,  below.  There  were  some 
scores  of  steerage  and  'tween-deck 
passengers,  dee]:)er  yet  in  the  bowels 
of  the  ship,  but  hidden  out  of  sight 
by  the  closed  hatches. 

I    know   not    why    it    should    have 
been,  but  I  was  the  only  midshipman 


plums  fiom  a  Sailor's  Buff      63 

on  the  poop,  though  the  ship  carried 
twelve  of  us,  six  to  a  watch.  The  other 
five  were  doubtless  loafing  about  un- 
der cover  somewhere.  I  stood  close 
beside  the  chief  mate  to  windward, 
holding  to  the  brass  rail  that  ran 
athwart  the  break  of  the'poop.  This 
officer  was  a  Scotchman,  a  man 
named  Thompson,  and  I  suppose  no 
better  seaman  ever  trod  a  ship's  deck. 
He  was  talking  to  me  about  getting 
home,  asking  me  whether  I  would 
rather  be  off  Cape  Horn  in  a  snow- 
storm or  making  ready  to  sit  down 
with  my  brothers  and  sisters  at  my 
father's  table  to  a  jolly  good  dinner 
of  fish  and  roast  beef  and  pudding, 
when  all  on  a  sudden  he  stopped  in 
what  he  was  saying,  and  fell  a-sniffing 
violently. 

"  I  smell  ice,"  said  he,  with  a 
glance  aft  at  the  captain. 

"  Smell  ice  !  "  thought  I,  with  a  half 
look  at  him,  for  I  believed  he  was 
joking.  For  my  part,  it  was  all  ice 
to  me — one  dense,  yelling  atmos- 
phere of  snow  ;  every  flake  barbed, 
and  the  cold  of  a  bitterness  beyond 
words.  He  fell  a-sniffing  again, 
quickly  and  vehemently,  and  stepped 
to  the  side,  sending  a  thirsty  look  into 
the  white  blindness  ahead,  whilst  I 
heard  him  mutter,  "  There  's  ice  close 
aboard,  there  's  ice  close  aboard  !  '" 


64     iplums  from  a  Sailor's  Duff 

As  he  spoke  the  words,  there  arose  a 
loud  and  fearful  cry  from  the  fore- 
castle. 

"  Ice  right  ahead,  sir  !  " 

"  Ice  right  ahead,  sir  !  "  repeated 
the  chief  mate,  whipping  round  upon 
the  captain. 

"  I  see  it,  sir  !  "  I  see  it,  sir  !  " 
roared  the  skipper.  "  Hard  a  star- 
board, men  !  Hard  a  starboard  for 
your  lives  !     Over  with  it !  " 

The  two  fellows  at  the  helm  sent 
the  spokes  flying  like  the  driving- 
wheel  of  a  locomotive  ;  the  long  ship, 
upborne  at  the  instant  by  a  huge  Pa- 
cific sea,  paid  off  like  a  creature  of 
instinct,  sweeping  slowly  but  surely 
to  port  just  in  time.  For  right  on 
the  starboard  bow  of  us  there  leapt 
out  into  proportions  terrible  and  mag- 
nificent, within  a  musket  shot  of  our 
rail,  an  iceberg  that  looked  as  big 
as  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  with  stormy 
roaring  of  the  gale  in  its  ravines  and 
valleys,  and  the  white  smoke  of  the 
snow  revolving  about  its  pinnacles 
and  spires  like  volumes  of  steam,  and 
a  volcanic  noise  of  mighty  seas  burst- 
ing against  its  base  and  recoiling  from 
the  adamant  of  its  crystalline  sides  in 
acres  of  foam.  We  were  heading  for 
it  at  the  rate  of  thirteen  miles  an 
hour  as  neatly  as  you  point  the  end 
of  a  thread  into  the  eye  of  a  needle. 


plums  from  a  Sailor's  Duff     65 

In  a  few  minutes  we  should  have  been 
into  it,  crumbled  against  it,  dissolved 
upon  the  white  waters  about  it,  and 
have  met  a  nameless  end.  Boy  as  I 
was,  and  bitter  as  was  the  day,  I  re- 
member feeling  a  stir  in  my  hair  as  I 
stood  watching  with  open  mouth  the 
passage  of  the  mountainous  mass 
close  alongside  into  the  pale  void 
astern,  whilst  the  ship  trembled  again 
to  the  blows  and  thumps  of  vast 
blocks  of  floating  ice. 

"  Ice  right  ahead,  sir  !  "  came  the 
cry  again,  nor  could  we  clear  the 
jumble  of  bergs  until  the  dusk  had 
settled  down,  when  we  hove-to  for 
the  night.  No  one  was  hurt,  but  I 
suppose  no  closer  shave  of  the  kind 
ever  happened  to  a  ship  before. 

Again,  and  this  time  once  more  off 
Cape  Horn.  It  was  my  third  voyage  ; 
I  was  still  a  midshipman,  and  in  the 
second  mate's  watch.  I  came  on 
deck  at  midnight  and  found  the  ship 
hove-to,  breasting  what  in  this  age  of 
steamboats,  and,  for  the  matter  of 
that,  perhaps  in  any  other  age,  might 
be  termed  a  terrific  sea.  She  was 
making  good  weather  of  it — that  is  to 
say,  she  kept  her  decks  dry,  but  she 
was  diving  and  rolling  most  hideous- 
ly, with  such  swift  headlong  shearing 
of  her  spars  through  the  gale  that  the 
noises  up  in  the  blackness  aloft  were 
5 


66     plums  from  a  Sailor's  2)uff 


as  though  the  spirits  of  the  inmates 
of  a  thousand  lunatic  asylums  had 
been  suddenly  enlarged  from  their 
bodies  and  sent  yelling  into  limbo. 
The  wind  blew  with  an  unendurable 
edge  in  the  sting  and  bite  of  it.  The 
second  mate  and  I,  each  with  a  rope 
girdling  his  waist  to  swing  by,  stood 
muffled  up  to  ournoses  under  the  lee 
of  a  square  of  canvas  seized  to  the 
mizzen  shrouds.  Presently  he  roared 
into  my  ear,  "  Sort  of  a  night  for  a 
pannikin  of  coffee,  eh,  Mr.  Russell  ?  " 
"Ay,  ay,  sir,"  I  replied,  and  with 
that,  liberating  myself  from  the  rope, 
I  clawed  my  way  along  the  line  of 
the  hencoops — the  decks  sometimes 
sloping  almost  up  and  down  to  the 
heavy  weather  sccnds  of  the  huge 
black  billows, — and  descended  into 
the  midshipmen's  berth.  It  was  not 
the  first  time  I  had  made  a  cup  of 
coffee  for  myself  and  the  second 
mate  in  the  middle  watch  during  cold 
weather.  An  old  nurse  who  had 
lived  in  my  family  for  years  had 
given  me  an  apparatus  consisting  of 
a  spirit-lamp  and  a  funnel-shaped 
contrivance  of  block  tin,  along  with 
several  pounds  of  very  good  coffee, 
and  with  this  I  used  to  keep  the 
second  mate  and  myself  supplied 
with  the  real  luxury  of  a  hot  and 
aromatic  drink  during  wet  and  frosty 


plums  from  a  Sailoc'iS  Buff     67 

watches.  The  midshipmen's  berth 
was  a  narrow  room  down  in  the 
'tween  decks,  Lulkheaded  off  from 
the  sides,  fitted  with  a  double  row  of 
bunks,  one  on  top  of  another,  the 
lower  beds  being  about  a  foot  above 
the  deck.  There  were  five  midship- 
men all  turned  in  and  fast  asleep. 
The  others,  who  were  on  watch, 
were  clustered  under  the  break  of 
the  poop  for  the  shelter  there.  A 
lonely  one-eyed  sort  of  slush  lamp, 
with  sputtering  wick  and  stinking 
flame, swung  wearily  from  a  blackened 
beam,  rendering  the  darkness  but  lit- 
tle more  than  visible.  I  slung  my  little 
cooking  apparatus  near  to  it,  filled 
the  lamp  with  spirits  of  wine,  put 
water  and  ^coffee  into  the  funnel,  and 
then  set  fire  to  the  arrangement.  I 
stood  close  under  it,  wrapped  from 
head  to  foot  in  gleaming  oilskins — 
looking  a  very  bloated  little  shape,  I 
don't  doubt,  from  the  quantity  of 
clothing  I  wore  under  the  waterproofs, 
— waiting  for  the  water  to  boil.  The 
seas  roared  in  thunder  high  above 
the  scuttles  to  the  wild  and  sickening 
dipping  of  the  ship's  side  into  the 
trough.  The  humming  of  the  gale 
pierced  through  the  decks  with  the 
sound  of  a  crowd  of  bands  of  music 
in  the  distance,  all  playing  together 
and  each  one  a  different  tune.     The 


68     ipiiims  from  a  Saflor's  2)uff 

midshipmen  snored,  and  coats  and 
smallclothes  hanging  from  the  bunk 
stanchions  wearily  swung  sprawling 
out  and  in,  like  bodies  dangling  from 
gallows  in  a  gale  of  wind. 

All  in  a  moment  a  sea  of  unusual 
weight  and  fury  took  the  ship  and 
hove  her  down  to  the  height  as  you 
would  have  thought,  of  her  top- 
gallant rail  ;  the  headlong  movement 
sent  me  sliding  to  leeward  ;  the  fore- 
thatch  of  my  sou'wester  struck  the 
spirit-lamp  ;  down  it  poured,  in  a  line 
of  fire  upon  the  deck,  where  it  surged 
to  and  fro  in  a  sheet  of  flame,  with 
the  movements  of  the  ship.  I  was  so 
horribly  frightened  as  to  be  almost 
paralysed  by  the  sight  of  that  flicker- 
ing stretch  of  yellowish  light,  spark- 
ling and  leaping  as  it  swept  under 
the  lower  bunks  and  came  racing 
back  again  to  the  bulkhead  with  the 
windward  incline.  I  fell  to  stamping 
upon  it  in  my  sea-boots,  little  fool 
that  I  was,  hoping  in  that  way  to  ex- 
tinguish it.  A  purple-faced  midship- 
man occupied  one  of  the  lower  bunks, 
and  his  long  nose  lay  over  the  edge 
of  it.  He  0|:)ened  his  eyes,  and  after 
looking  sleei)ily  for  a  moment  or  two 
at  the  coating  of  pale  fire  rushing 
from  under  his  bed,  he  snuffed  a  bit, 
and  muttering,  "  Doocid  nice  smell  ; 
burnt  brandy,   ain't  it?"  he  turned 


plums  from  a  Sailor's  5)uff     69 

over  and  went  to  sleep  again  with  his 
face  the  other  way. 

I  was  in  an  agony  of  consternation, 
and  yet  afraid  of  calling  for  help  lest 
I  should  be  very  roughly  manhandled 
for  my  carelessness.  There  was  a 
deal  of "  raffle  "  under  the  bunks — sea- 
boots,  little  bundles  of  clothing,  and 
I  know  not  what  else  ;  but  thanks  to 
Cape  Horn  everything  was  happily 
as  damp  as  water  itself.  There  was 
therefore  nothing  to  kindle,  nor  was 
there  any  aperture  through  which  the 
burning  spirit  could  run  below  into 
the  hold  ;  so  by  degrees  the  flaming 
stuff  consumed  itself,  and  in  about 
ten  minutes'  time  the  planks  were 
black  again.  I  went  on  deck  and  re- 
ported what  had  happened  to  the 
second  mate.  All  he  said  was  *'  My 
God  !  "  and  instantly  ran  below  to 
satisfy  himself  that  there  was  no  fur- 
ther danger.  I  can  never  recall  that 
little  passage  of  my  life  without  a 
shudder.  There  were  a  hundred  and 
ninety-five  souls  of  us  aboard,  and 
had  I  nioinaged  to  set  the  ship  on  fire 
that  night  the  doom  of  every  living 
creature  would  have  been  assured, 
seeing  that  no  boat  could  have  lived 
an  instant  in  such  a  sea  as  was  then 
running. 

In  a  very  different  climate  from 
that  of  Cape  Horn  I  came  very  near 


70     plums  from  a  Sailor's  Duff 

to  meeting  with  an  extremely  ugly 
end.  It  was  a  little  business  entirely 
out  of  the  routine  of  the  ordinary 
ocean  dangers,  but  the  memory  of  it 
sends  a  thrill  through  me  to  this  hour, 
though  it  is  much  past  twenty  years 
ago  since  it  happened.  I  was  mak- 
ing my  second  voyage  aboard  a  small 
full-rigged  ship  that  had  been  hired 
by  the  Government  for  the  convey- 
ance of  troops  to  the  East  Indies.  I 
was  the  only  midshipman  ;  the  other 
youngsters  consisted  of  five  appren- 
tices. We  occupied  a  deck-house  a 
little  forward  of  the  main-hatch. 
This  house  was  divided  by  a  fore  and 
aft  bulkhead  ;  the  apprentices  lived 
in  the  port  compartment,  the  third 
and  fourth  mates  and  myself  slung 
our  hammocks  on  the  starboard  side. 
The  third  mate  was  a  man  of  good 
family,  aged  about  twenty-one,  a 
young  Hercules  in  strength,  with 
heavy  under-jaws  and  the  low,  pe- 
culiar brow  of  the  prize-fighter.  He 
had  been  a  midshipman  in  Smith's 
service,  and  was  a  good  and  active 
sailor,  very  nimble  aloft  and  expert 
in  his  work  about  the  ship,  but  of  a 
sullen,  morose  disposition,  and  a 
heavy  drinker  whenever  the  opportu- 
nity to  get  drink  presented  itself.  I 
think  he  was  regarded  by  all  hands 
as   a   little   touched,  but  I  was   too 


BMums  from  a  Sailor's  ©uft     71 

young  to  remark  in  him  any  oddities 
which  might  strike  an  older  observer. 
He  was  given  to  dehvering  himself  of 
certain  dark,  wild  fancies.  I  remem- 
ber he  once  told  me  that  if  he  owed 
a  man  a  grudge  he  would  not  scruple 
to  plant  himself  alongside  of  him  on 
a  yard  on  a  black  night  and  kick  the 
foot-rope  from  under  him  when  his 
hands  were  busy,  and  so  let  him  go 
overboard.  But  this  sort  of  talk  I 
would  put  down  to  mere  boasting, 
and  indeed  I  thought  nothing  of  it. 

We  were  in  the  Indian  Ocean,  and 
one  evening  I  sat  at  supper  (as  tea, 
the  last  meal  on  board  ship,  is  always 
called)  along  with  this  man  and  the 
fourth  mate.  We  fell  into  some  sort 
of  nautical  argument,  and  in  the  heat 
of  the  discussion  I  said  something 
that  caused  the  third  mate  to  look  at 
me  fixedly  for  a  little  while,  whilst  he 
muttered  under  his  breath,  in  a  kind 
of  half-stifled  way,  as  though  his  teeth 
were  set.  I  did  not  catch  the  words, 
but  I  am  quite  certain  from  the  fourth 
mate's  manner,  that  he  had  heard 
them,  and  that  he  knew  what  was  in 
the  other's  mind.  I  say  this  because 
I  recollect  that  very  shortly  after- 
wards the  fellow  rose  and  walked  out 
on  deck  with  an  air  about  him  as  if 
he  was  willing  to  give  the  third  mate 
a  chance  of  being  alone  with  me.     It 


72     plums  from  a  Sailor's  Duff 

was  a  mean  trick,  but  then  he  was  a 
cowardly  rogue,  and  when  I  after- 
wards heard  that  he  had  been  dis- 
missed from  the  service  he  had 
formerly  entered  for  robbing  his 
shipmates  of  money  and  tobacco  and 
the  humble  trifles  which  sailors  carry 
about  with  them  in  their  sea-chests  I 
was  wicked  enough,  recalling  how  he 
had  walked  out  of  that  deck-house, 
leaving  me,  a  little  boy,  alone  with  a 
strong,  brutal,  crazy  third  mate,  to 
hope  that  he  might  yet  prove  guilty 
of  larger  sins  still,  for  I  could  not  but 
regard  him  as  a  creature  that  de- 
served to  be  hanged.  The  instant 
this  man  stepped  through  the  door 
the  third  mate  jumped  up  and  closed 
it.  It  travelled  in  grooves,  and  he 
whipped  it  to  with  a  temper  which 
caused  the  whole  structure  to  echo 
again  to  the  blow. 

"Now,  you  young "  he  ex- 
claimed, turning  his  bull-dog  face, 
white  with  rage,  upon  me,  yet  speak- 
ing in  a  cold  voice  that  was  more 
terrifying  to  listen  to  than  if  he  had 
roared  out,  "  I  have  you  and  I  mean 
to  punish  you,"  and  with  that  he  un- 
clasped his  heavy  belt,  and  then 
clasped  it  again  so  as  to  make  a  dou- 
ble thong  of  the  leather,  and  grasped 
me  by  the  collar. 

What  my  feelings  were  I  am  unable 


Iplums  from  a  Sailor's  Buff      73 

to  state  at  this  distance  of  time.  I 
believe  I  was  more  astonished  than 
frightened.  I  could  not  imagine  that 
this  huge  creature  was  in  earnest  in 
offering  to  beat  me  for  what  I  had 
said,  and  yet  I  was  sensible  too  of  an 
unnatural  fire  in  his  eyes — a  glow  that 
put  an  expression  of  savage  exulta- 
tion into  them  ;  and  this  look  of  his 
somehow  held  me  motionless  and 
speechless.  He  half  raised  his  arm, 
but  a  sudden  irresolution  possessed 
him,  as  though  my  passivity  was  a 
check  upon  his  intentions. 

"  No,  no,  "  he  exclaimed,  after  a 
little,  "  I  '11  manage  better  than  this  "  ; 
and  still  grasping  me  by  the  collar  of 
my  jacket  he  dropped  his  belt  and 
ran  me  to  the  fore  end  of  the  com- 
partment, threw  me  on  my  back,  and 
knelt  upon  me.  Within  reach  of  his 
arm,  kneeling  as  he  was,  were  three 
shelves  on  which  we  kept  such  crock- 
ery and  cutlery  as  we  owned,  along 
with  our  slender  stores  of  sugar  and 
flour  and  the  cold  remains  of  previ- 
ous repasts.  He  felt  for  a  knife  ;  1 
could  hear  the  blades  rattle  as  his 
fingers  groped  past  his  curved  wrist 
for  one  of  them,  and  then  flourishing 
the  black-handled  weapon  in  front  of 
my  eyes  he  exclaimed,  "  Now  I'm 
going  to  murder  you."  I  lay  stock- 
still  ;    I   never    uttered    a    word  ;    I 


74     ipluins  tiom  a  Sailor's  Dutt 


scarcely  breathed  indeed.  Again,  I 
say  that  I  do  not  know  that  I  was 
terrified.  My  condition  was  one  of 
semi-stupefaction,  I  think,  with  just 
enough  of  sense  left  in  me  to  com- 
prehend that  if  I  uttered  the  least  cry 
or  struggled,  no  matter  how  faintly,  I 
should  transform  him  into  a  wild 
beast.  Nothing  but  my  lying  corpse- 
like under  the  pressure  of  his  knee 
saved  me,  I  am  certain.  My  gaze 
was  fixed  upon  his  face,  and  I  see  him 
now  staring  at  me  with  his  little  eyes 
on  fire,  and  the  knife  poised  ready  to 
plunge.  This  posture  maybe  he  re- 
tained for  two  or  three  minutes  ;  it 
ran  into  long  hours  to  me.  Then  on 
a  sudden  he  threw  the  knife  away 
backwards  over  his  shoulder,  rose 
and  went  to  the  door,  where  he  stood 
a  little  staring  at  me  intently.  I  con- 
tinued to  lie  motionless.  He  opened 
the  door  and  passed  out,  on  which  I 
sprang  to  my  feet  and  fled  as  nimbly 
as  my  legs  would  carry  me  to  the 
poop,  where  I  found  the  chief  mate. 
He  was  a  little  Welshman  of  the  name 
of  Thomas,  a  brother  of  Ap  Thomas, 
the  celebrated  harpist,  and  if  he  be 
still  alive  and  these  lines  should  meet 
his  eyes,  let  him  be  pleased  to  know 
that  my  memory  holds  him  in  cordial 
respect  as  the  kindest  officer  and  the 
smartest  seaman  I  ever  had  the  for- 


Iplum5  from  a  Sailor's  ©iifT     75 


tune  to  be  shipmates  with.  To  him  I 
related  wliat  had  happened. 

"  O— ho,"  cried  he,  "  attempted 
murder,  hey  ?  Our  friend  must  be 
taught  that  we  don't  allow  this  sort  of 
thing  to  happen  aboard  tis." 

He  gave  certain  orders  and  shortly 
afterwards  the  third  mate  was  seized 
and  locked  up  in  a  spare  cabin  just 
under  the  break  of  the  poop.  Two 
powerful  seamen  were  told  off  to 
keep  him  company.  How  much  the 
unfortunate  man  needed  this  sort  of 
control  I  could  not  have  imagined 
but  for  my  hearing  that  he  was  locked 
up  and  my  going  to  the  cabin  win- 
dow that  looked  on  to  the  quarter 
deck  to  take  a  peep  at  him  if  he  was 
visible.  He  saw  me  and  bounded  to 
the  window,  bringing  his  leg-of-mut- 
ton fist  against  it  with  a  blow  that 
crashed  the  whole  plate  of  glass  into 
splinters.  His  face  was  purple,  his 
eyes  half  out  of  their  sockets.  There 
was  froth  upon  his  lips,  with  such  a 
general  distortion  of  features  that  it 
would  be  impossible  to  figure  a  more 
horrible  illustration  of  madness  than 
his  countenance.  I  bolted  as  if  the 
devil  had  been  after  me,  catching  just 
a  glimpse  of  the  powerful  creature 
wrestling  in  the  grasp  of  the  two  sea- 
men who  were  dragging  him  back- 
wards into   the  gloom  of  the  cabin. 


76     plums  from  a  Sailor's  Dutt 

Such  an  escape  as  this  I  regard  as 
distinctly  more  eventful,  if  not  more 
romantic,  than  falling  overboard  and 
being  rescued  when  almost  spent,  or 
being  picked  up  after  a  fortnight's  ex- 
posure in  an  open  boat.  My  most 
sleei)-murdering  nightmares  nearly 
always  include  the  phantom  form  of 
that  burly,  crazed  third  mate  kneel- 
ing upon  my  motionless  little  figure 
and  feeling  for  a  knife  on  one  of  the 
shelves  just  over  my  head. 

Another  little  plum  out  of  my  plain 
sailor's  pudding.  This  time  my  ship 
was  an  East  Indian  trader  that  whilst 
lying  at  Calcutta  was  chartered  by 
the  Government  to  convey  troops  to 
the  North  of  China.  It  was  in  i860. 
Difficulties  had  arisen,  and  John 
Chinaman  was  to  be  attacked.  We 
proceeded  to  Hong  Kong  with  the 
headquarters  of  the  60th  Rifles  on 
board,  and  thence  to  the  Gulf  of  Pe- 
che-li,  which  I  should  say  submitted 
one  of  the  finest  spectacles  in  the 
world,  with  its  congregations  of  trans- 
ports and  English  and  French  and 
Yankee  ships  of  war.  It  was  an  old- 
world  scene  which  the  sponge  of  time 
has  obliterated  for  ever,  and  I  behold 
again  in  memory  those  two  noble 
frigates,  the  I//ipi'rieusea.x\d  the  Chesa- 
peake, straining  tightly  at  their 
cables,  with  smoke-stacks  too  modest 


fftlums  from  a  Sailor's  Duff     77 

in  proportions  to  impair  to  the  criti- 
cal nautical  eye  the  tack  and  sheet 
suggestions  of  the  graceful,  exqui- 
sitely symmetrical  fabric  of  spars 
and  yards  and  rigging  soaring  trium- 
phantly aloft  to  where  the  long  whip 
or  pennant  at  the  main  flickered  like  a 
delicate  line  of  fire  against  the  hard 
cold  blue  of  the  Asiatic  sky. 

We  lay  for  many  months  in  that 
bay,  and  were  obliged  repeatedly  to 
send  ashore  for  fresh  meat,  vegetables, 
and  the  like.  On  one  occasion  I  rec- 
ollect going  with  the  mate  in  the 
long-boat  some  distance  up  the  river 
Peiho,  a  rushing,  turbid  stream  at  the 
mouth  of  which  the  Chinese  had 
fixed  a  very  chevaiix-dc-frise  of  spikes, 
upon  which  they  had  fondly  hoped 
our  men-of-war  would  impale  them- 
selves, forgetting  that  the  depth  of 
water  scarcely  permitted  the  approach 
of  a  shallow  gunboat.  We  were 
returning  to  the  ship  with  a  fair  wind, 
and  on  top  of  the  fierce  rush  of  the 
river,  when  our  helmsman  run  us 
plump  against  one  of  Johnny's  huge 
impalers.  The  shock  of  the  blow 
threw  the  mate  into  an  immense 
basket  of  fresh  eggs.  He  fell  with  a 
squelch  past  all  power  of  forgetting, 
and  lay  wriggling  in  a  very  quagmire 
of  yolk  and  white  and  fragments  of 
shells.     We  pulled  him  out  blind  and 


78     ipiiims  from  a  Sailor's  Buff 

streaming  with  eggs.  His  aspect  was 
so  preposterously  absurd  that  the 
helmsman,  rendered  almost  imbecile 
by  laughter,  let  the  boat  drive  into  a 
second  pile,  when,  as  I  live  to  write 
it,  the  mate,  who  was  cleaning  him- 
self near  to  the  basket,  was  thrown  a 
second  time  into  the  glutinous  mess  ! 
I  will  not  attempt  to  repeat  the  sea- 
blessings  he  bestowed  upon  the  steers- 
man. Happily  eggs  were  cheap,  and 
a  dollar  might  have  represented  a 
more  considerable  smash.  Now  it 
was  two  days  following  this  that  the 
captain  sent  the  long-boat  to  procure 
some  sheep  and  poultry  from  a  little 
village  situated  close  to  the  shores  of 
the  bay  on  the  north  of  the  river. 
The  second  mate  took  charge,  and  I 
and  another  midshipman  and  a 
couple  of  sailors  went  along  with 
him.  We  landed  and  left  the  boat  in 
charge  of  a  seaman,  and  strolled 
towards  the  village.  The  second 
mate  was  a  wild,  dissolute  young 
fellow,  who,  before  he  quitted  China, 
became  (he  recipient  of  more  than  one 
round  dozen  by  order  of  the  provost- 
marshal  for  looting.  A  little  knot  of 
Chinamen  stood  watching  as  we 
approached,  whilst  just  beyond  we 
caught  sight  of  a  couple  of  women 
hobbling  nimbly  away  out  of  reach  of 
our  sight,  as  though  they  walked  on 


plums  from  a  Sailor's  Duff     79 

stilts.  Sherman — for  such  was  the 
second  mate's  name, — approaching 
the  Chinamen,  began  with  them  in 
pigeon  English.  They  did  not 
understand.  He  exhibited  a  few 
dollars,  and  traced  the  outline  of  a 
sheep  upon  the  ground,  and,  with 
many  surprising  motions  of  his  arms, 
sought  to  acquaint  them  with  the 
object  of  his  visit.  All  to  no 
purpose.  "What's  to  be  done?" 
said  Sherman,  looking  at  us.  "There 
's  nothing  that  resembles  a  sheep 
hereabouts."  His  eyes  suddenly 
brightened  as  they  lighted  on  a  large 
concourse  of  cocks  and  hens  pecking 
in  tolerably  close  order  at  some  fifty 
paces  distant  from  us.  "Boys,"  he 
shouted,  "as  these  chaps  can't  be 
made  to  understand,  let  's  help  our- 
selves. Each  one  seize  what  he  can 
get  and  make  for  the  boat.  Follow 
me."  He  sprang  with  incredible 
agility  towards  the  fowls,  and  in  a 
trice  had  a  couple  of  them  shrieking 
and  fluttering  in  his  grasp.  In  a 
breath  the  Chinamen — thirty  or  forty 
strong — uttering  a  long,  peculiar 
shout,  armed  themselves  with  pitch- 
forks— at  all  events,  a  species  of 
weapon  that  to  my  young  eyes  re- 
sembled a  pitchfork,  — sticks,  and 
stones,  and  gave  chase.  They 
tramped  after  us  with  the  noise  of  an 


8o     iplums  from  a  Sailor's  Buff 

army  in  pursuit.  We  flew  towards 
the  boat,  screaming  to  the  fellow  in 
charge  to  haul  in  and  receive  us.  A 
stone  struck  me  in  the  small  of  my 
back,  and  urged  me  forwards  faster 
than  my  legs  were  travelling.  Down  I 
should  have  tumbled  on  my  nose,  and 
in  that  posture  have  been  straightway 
massacred,  but  for  the  timely  grip  of  a 
sailor  who  was  running  by  my  side. 
"  Hold  up,  my  hearty  !  "  he  roared, 
hooking  his  fingers  into  the  back  of 
my  collar  and  jerking  me  backwards. 
In  a  few  moments  we  gained  the  boat, 
wading  waist-high  to  come  at  her,  and 
rolling  like  drunken  men  over  her 
gunwale  into  her  bottom.  A  volley 
of  stones  rattled  about  our  ears,  but 
we  were  safe.  Had  the  Chinamen 
carried  firearms,  not  one  of  us  but 
must  have  been  shot  down. 

I  could  relate  a  score  or  more  of 
such  experiences  :  of  ugly  collisions 
with  the  police  in  Calcutta,  of  a  nar- 
row escape  of  being  thrown  over- 
board by  a  dinghy-wallah  of  the  river 
Hooghley,  of  a  desperate  fight  in  the 
slings  of  the  mizzen-topgallant  yard 
with  an  apprentice  of  my  own  age, 
and  the  like  ;  but  the  space  at  my 
disposal  obliges  me  to  conclude. 
Very  little  of  the  heroic  enters  the 
sailor's  life.  The  risks  he  runs,  the 
adventures  he  encounters,  have,  as  a 


plums  from  a  Sailor's  Buff     8i 

rule,  nothing  of  the  romantic  in  them  ; 
they  are  mainly  brought  about  by 
his  own  foolhardiness,  by  the  pro- 
verbial carelessness  that  is  utterly 
irreconcilable  with  the  stern  obliga- 
tions of  vigilance,  alertness,  and  fore- 
sight imposed  upon  him  by  the 
nature  of  his  calling,  by  the  imbe- 
cility of  shipmates,  and  much  too 
often  by  drink.  Yet  no  matter  what 
the  cause  of  most  of  the  perils  he 
meets  with,  his  experiences,  I  take  it, 
head  the  march  of  professional  dan- 
gers. Small  wonder  that  faith  in  the 
"  sweet  little  cherub  that  sits  up 
aloft  "  should  still  linger  in  the  fore- 
castle. For  certainly  were  it  not  for 
the  bright  look-out  kept  over  him  by 
some  sort  of  maritime  angel,  the 
mariner  would  rank  foremost  as 
amongst  the  most  perishable  of  hu- 
man products. 


The  Sti^ange  Adven- 
tures of  a  South 
Seaman. 


ON  November  4th,  1830,  a  num- 
ber of  convicts  were  indicted 
at  the  Admiralty  Sessions  of 
the  Old  Bailey  for  having  on  the  5th 
of  September  in  the  previous  year 
piratically  seized  a  brig  called  the 
Cyprus.  A  South  Seaman  was  inno- 
cently and  most  involuntarily,  as 
shall  be  discovered  presently,  in- 
volved in  this  tragic  business,  to 
which  he  is  able  to  add  a  narrative 
that  is  certainly  not  known  to  any  of 
the  chroniclers  of  crime.  But  first  as 
to  the  piratical  seizure. 

The  Cyprus,  a  colonial  brig,  had 
been  chartered  to  convey  a  number 
of  convicts  from  Hobart  Town  to 
Macquarie  Harbour,  on  the  northern 
coast  of  Tasmania,  and  Norfolk  Isl- 
and, distant  about  a  week's  sail  from 
Sydney  -  in  those  days  a  penal  settle- 
ment.    There  were  thirty-two  felons 


strange  BDvcnturcs  83 


in  all.  These  men  had  been  guilty 
of  certain  grave  offences  at  Hobart 
Town,  and  they  had  rendered  them- 
selves in  consequence  liable  to  new 
punishment  ;  they  were  tried  before 
the  Supreme  Court  of  Judicature 
there,  and  sentenced  to  be  trans- 
ported to  the  place  above  men- 
tioned. 

Only  the  very  worst  sort  of  prison- 
ers were  sent  to  Norfolk  Island  and 
Macquarie  Harbour.  The  discipline 
at  those  penal  settlements  was  terri- 
ble ;  the  labour  that  was  exacted, 
heart-breaking.  The  character  of 
the  punishment  was  well  known,  and 
every  felon  re-sentenced  to  transpor- 
tation from  the  colonial  convict  set- 
tlements very  well  understood  the 
fate  that  was  before  him. 

The  Cyprtis  sailed  from  Hobart 
Town  in  August,  1829.  In  addition 
to  the  thirty-two  convicts,  she  carried 
a  crew  of  eight  men  and  a  guard  of 
twelve  soldiers,  under  the  command 
of  Lieutenant  Carew,  who  was  ac- 
companied by  his  wife  and  children. 
The  prisoners,  as  was  always  custom- 
ary in  convict  ships,  were  under  the 
care  of  a  medical  man  named  Wil- 
liams. 

Nothing  of  moment  happened  un- 
til the  brig  either  brought  up  or  was 
hove-to   in  Research  Bay,  where  Dr. 


84  Strange  BDvcntures 

Williams,  Lieutenant  Carew,  the  mate 
of  the  vessel,  a  soldier,  and  a  convict 
named  Popjoy  went  ashore  on  a  fish- 
ing excursion.  They  had  not  been 
gone  from  the  ship  above  half-an- 
hour  when  they  heard  a  noise  of  fire- 
arms. Instantly  guessing  that  the 
convicts  had  risen,  they  made  a  rush 
for  the  boat  and  pulled  for  the  brig. 
It  was  as  they  had  feared:  the  felons 
had  mastered  the  guard  and  seized 
the  brig.  They  suffered  no  man  to 
come  on  board  save  Popjoy,  who, 
however,  later  on  sprang  overboard, 
and  swam  to  the  beach.  They  then 
sent  the  crew,  soldiers,  and  passen- 
gers ashore,  but  without  provisions 
and  the  means  of  supporting  life. 
Then,  amongst  themselves,  the  pris- 
oners lifted  the  anchor  and  trimmed 
sail,  and  the  little  brig  slipped  away 
out  of  Research  Bay. 

The  chroniclers  state  that  the  ves- 
sel was  never  afterward  heard  of, 
though  some  of  the  convicts  were 
apprehended,  separately,  in  various 
parts  of  Sussex  and  Essex.  The 
posthumous  yarn  of  the  mate  of  an 
English  whaler  disproves  this.  He 
relates  his  extraordinary  experience 
thus  : 

"  We  had  been  fishing  north  of  the 
Equator,  and  had  filled  up  with  a 
little  'grease,'  as  the  Yankees  term  it, 


strange  aDventures  85 

round  about  the  Galapagos  Islands, 
but  business  grew  too  slack  for  even  a 
whaleman's  patience.  Eleven  months 
out  from  Whitby,  and,  if  my  memory 
fails  me  not,  less  than  a  score  of  full 
barrels  in  our  hold  !  So  the  Captain 
made  up  his  mind  to  try  south,  and 
working  our  way  across  the  Equator, 
we  struck  in  amongst  the  Polynesian 
groups,  raising  the  Southern  Cross 
higher  and  higher,  till  we  were  some- 
where about  latitude  30  deg.,  and  lon- 
gitude 175  deg.  E. 

"  I  came  on  deck  to  the  relief 
at  four  o'clock  one  morning  :  the 
weather  Avas  quiet,  a  pleasant  breeze 
blowing  off  the  starboard  beam  ;  our 
ship  was  barque-rigged,  with  short, 
topgallantmasts — Cape  Horn  fashion; 
she  was  thrusting  through  it  leisurely 
under  topsails  and  a  maintopgallant- 
sail,  and  the  whole  Pacific  heave  so 
cradled  her  as  she  went  that  she 
seemed  to  sleep  as  she  sailed. 

"  Day  broke  soon  after  five,  and  as 
the  light  brightened  out  I  caught 
sight  of  a  gleam  on  the  edge  of  the 
sea.  It  was  as  white  with  the  risen 
sun  upon  it  as  an  iceberg.  I  lev- 
elled the  glass  and  made  out  the  top- 
mast canvas  of  a  small  vessel.  There 
was  nothing  to  excite  one  in  the 
spectacle  of  a  distant  sail.  The 
barque's  work  went  on  ;  the   decks 


86  Strange  BDventures 

were  washed  down,  the  look-out  aloft 
hailed  and  nothing  reported,  and  at 
seven  bells  the  crew  went  to  break- 
fast, at  which  hour  we  had  risen  the 
distant  sail  with  a  rapidity  that  some- 
what puzzled  the  captain  and  me. 
For,  first  of  all,  she  was  not  so  far  off 
now  but  that  we  could  distinguish  the 
lay  of  her  head.  She  looked  to  be 
going  our  way,  but  clearly  she  was 
stationary,  for  the  Swan,  which  was 
the  name  of  our  barque,  though  as 
seaworthy  an  old  tub  as  ever  went  to 
leeward  on  a  bowline,  was  absolutely 
without  legs  :  nothing  more  sluggish 
was  ever  afloat  ;  iox  her  then  to  have 
overhauled  anything  that  was  actually 
under  way  would  have  been  mar- 
vellous. 

Something    wrong    out     there, 
Grainger  ?'  said  the  captain. 

** '  Looks  to  me  to  be  all  in  the 
wind  with  her,'  I  answered. 

"  '  Make  out  any  colour  ? '  said  the 
captain. 

"  '  Nothing  as  yet,'  said  I. 

"  *  Shift  your  helm  by  a  spoke  or 
two,'  said  he.  '  Meanwhile,  I  '11  go 
to  breakfast' 

"  He  was  not  long  below.  By  the 
time  he  returned  we  had  risen  the 
distant  vessel  to  the  line  of  her  rail. 
I  got  some  breakfast  in  the  cabin  ; 
on  passing  again  through   the  hatch 


strange  ZlDventurcs  87 


I  found  tlie  captain  looking  at  the 
sail  through  the  telescope. 

"  *  She  is  a  small  brig,'  said  he, 
'and  she  has  just  sent  the  English 
colours  aloft  with  the  jack  down. 
She  is  all  in  the  wind,  as  you  said. 
Her  people  don't  seem  to  know  what 
to  do  with  her.' 

"  She  now  lay  plain  enough  to  the 
naked  sight  ;  a  small  black  brig  of 
about  a  hundred  and  eighty  tons,  ap- 
parently in  ballast  as  she  floated  high 
on  the  water.  She,  like  ourselves, 
carried  short  topgallantmasts,  but 
the  canvas  she  showed  consisted  of 
no  more  than  topsails  and  courses. 
I  took  the  glass  from  the  captain, 
and  believed  I  could  make  out  the 
heads  of  two  or  three  people  showing 
above   the    bulwark   rail    abaft    the 


mammast 


What  's  their  trouble  going  to 
prove  ? '  said  the  captain. 

"'They  're  waiting  for  us,'  said  I. 
'They  saw  us,  and  put  the  helm  down, 
and  got  their  little  ship  in  irons  in- 
stead of  backing  their  topsail  yard. 
No  sailor-man  there,  I  doubt.' 

"  '  A  small  colonial  trader,  you  '11 
find,'  said  the  captain,  '  with  a  crew 
of  four  or  five  Kanakas.  The  cap- 
tain 's  sick  and  the  mate  was  acci- 
dentally left  ashore  at  the  last  island.' 

"  It  blew  a  four-knot  breeze — four 


88  Strange  BDventures 

knots,  I  mean,  for  the  Swan.  Wrink- 
ling the  water  under  her  bows,  and 
smoothing  into  oil  a  cable's  length 
of  wake  astern  of  her,  tlie  whaler 
floated  down  to  the  little  brig  within 
hailing  distance.  We  saw  but  two 
men,  and  one  of  them  was  at  the 
wheel.  There  was  an  odd  look  of 
confusion  aloft,  or  rather  let  me 
describe  it  as  a  want  of  that  sort  of 
precision  which  a  sailor's  eye  would 
seek  for  and  instantly  miss,  even  in 
the  commonest  old  sea-donkey  of  a 
collier.  Nothing  was  rightly  set  for 
the  lack  of  hauling  taut.  Running 
gear  was  slackly  belayed,  and  swung 
with  the  rolling  of  the  little  brig  like 
Irish  pennants.  The  craft  was  clean 
at  the  bottom,  but  uncoppered.  She 
was  a  round-bowed  contrivance,  with 
a  spring  aft  which  gave  a  kind  of 
mulish,  kick-up  look  to  the  run  of 
her. 

"One  of  the  two  visible  men,  a 
broad-chested,  thick-set  fellow,  in  a 
black  coat  and  a  wide,  white  straw 
hat,  got  upon  the  bulwark,  and  stood 
holding  on  by  a  back-stay,  Avatching 
our  ajjproach,  but  he  did  not  offer 
to  hail.  I  thought  this  queer  ;  it 
struck  me  that  he  hesitated  to  hail  us, 
as  though  wanting  the  language  of 
the  sea  in  this  business  of  speaking. 

" '  Brig  ahoy  ! '  shouted  the  captain. 


strange  BDvcntuies  Sg 


"  '  Hallo  !  '  answered  the  man. 

"  '  What  is  wrong  with  you  ?  ' 

"  '  We  are  short-handed,  sir,  and  in 
great  distress,'   was  the  answer. 

"  '  What  is  your  ship,  and  where  are 
you  from,  and  where  are  you  bound 
to?' 

"  When  these  questions  were  put 
the  man  looked  round  to  the  fellow 
who  stood  at  the  brig's  little  wheel. 
It  was  certain  he  was  not  a  sailor, 
and  it  was  possible  he  sought  for 
counsel  from  the  helmsman,  who  was 
probably  a  forecastle  hand.  He 
turned  his  face  again  our  way  in  a 
minute,  and  shouted  out  in  a  power- 
ful voice  : 

"  *  We  are  the  brig  Cyprus,  of  Syd- 
ney, New  South  Wales,  bound  to  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  very  much 
out  of  our  reckoning,  I  dare  say, 
through  the  distress  we  're  in.' 

"  The  captain  and  I  exchanged 
looks. 

" '  Heading  as  you  go,'  the  captain 
sang  out,  '  you  're  bound  on  a  true 
course  for  the  Antarctic  Circle,  and, 
anyway,  it  's  a  long  stretch  for  Agul- 
has  byway  of  Cape  Horn  out  of  these 
seas.     How  can  we  serve  you  ? ' 

"'Will  you  send  one  of  your  offi- 
cers in  a  boat  ? '  came  back  the  reply 
very  promptly,  '  that  he  may  put  us 
in   the  way  of  steering  a  course  for 


9°  Strange  BDvciituies 

the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  ?  He  '11 
then  guess  our  plight,  and  if  you'll 
lend  us  a  hand  or  two  we  shall  be 
greatly  obliged.  We  can't  send  a 
boat  ourselves — we  're  too  few.' 

"  '  He  's  no  sailor-man,  that'  fellow,' 
said  the  captain,  '  and  he  ha'n't  got 
the  colonial  brogue,  either.  I  seem 
to  smell  Whitechapel  in  that  chap's 
speech.  Is  he  a  passenger?  Why 
don't  he  say  so?  Looks  like  a  play- 
actor, or  a  priest.  But  take  a  boat, 
Grainger,  and  row  over  and  see  what 
you  can  make  of  the  mess  they  're  in. 
There's  something  rather  more  than 
out-of-the-way  in  that  job,  if  I  'm  not 
mistaken.' 

"  A  boat  was  lowered  ;  I  entered 
it,  and  was  rowed  across  to  the  brig 
by  three  men.  No  attempt  was  made 
to  throw  us  the  end  of  a  line,  or  in 
any  way  to  help  us.  The  bowman 
got  hold  of  a  chain  plate,  and  I 
scrambled  into  the  main-chains  and 
so  got  over  the  rail,  bidding  the  men 
shove  off  and  lie  clear  of  the  brig, 
whose  rolling  was  somewhat  heavy, 
owing  to  her  floating  like  an  egg-shell 
upon  the  long  Pacific  heave. 

"  I  glanced  along  the  vessel's  decks 
forward,  and  saw  not  a  soul.  I  ob- 
served a  little  caboose,  the  chimney 
of  which  was  smoking  as  though  coal 
had  within  the  past  few  minutes  been 


strange  BDvcnturcs  91 


thrown  into  the  furnace.  I  saw  hut 
one  boat ;  she  stood  chocked  and 
lashed  abaft  the  caboose — a  ckimsy, 
broad-beamed  long-boat,  capable  of 
stowing  perhaps  fifteen  or  twenty 
men  at  a  pinch.  I  also  took  notice 
of  a  pair  of  davits  on  the  starboard 
side,  past  the  main  rigging ;  they 
were  empty, 

"  I  stepped  up  to  the  heavily-built 
man  who  had  answered  the  captain's 
questions.  He  received  me  with  a 
grotesque  bow,  pinching  the  brim  of 
his  wide  straw  hat  as  he  bobbed  his 
head.  I  did  not  like  his  looks.  He 
had  as  hanging  a  face  as  ever  a  male- 
factor carried.  His  features  were 
heavy  and  coarse,  his  brow  low  and 
protruding,  his  eyes  small,  black,  and 
restless,  and  his  mouth  of  the  bull- 
dog cast. 

"  '  We  're  much  obliged  to  you  for 
this  visit,'  he  said.  '  Might  I  ask 
your  name,  sir  ? ' 

"  *  My  name  is  Grainger — Mr.  James 
Grainger,'  I  answered,  scarcely  won- 
dering at  the  irregularity  of  such  a 
question  on  such  an  occasion,  per- 
ceiving clearly  now  that  the  fellow 
was  no  sailor. 

"  '  What  might  be  your  position  in 
that  ship,  Mr.  Grainger?'  said  the 
man. 

** '  I  'm  mate  of  her,'  said  I. 


92  strange  BDvcnturce 

"'Then  I  suppose  you're  capable 
of  carrying  a  ship  from  place  to  place 
by  the  art  of  navigation  ? '  he  ex- 
claimed. 

" '  Why,  1  hope  so  ! '  cried  I.  '  But 
what  is  it  you  want  ? '  and  here  I 
looked  at  the  man  who  was  stand- 
ing at  the  helm,  grasping  the  spokes 
in  a  manner  that  assured  me  he 
was  not  used  to  that  sort  of  work  ; 
and  I  was  somewhat  struck  to  ob- 
serve that  in  some  respects  he  was 
not  unlike  the  fellow  who  was 
addressing  me — that  is  to  say,  he 
had  quite  as  hanging  a  face  as  his 
companion,  though  he  wanted  the 
other's  breadth  and  squareness,  and 
rufifian-likesetof  figure  ;  but  his  fore- 
head was  low,  and  his  eyes  black  and 
restless,  and  he  was  close-cropped, 
with  some  days'  growth  of  beard,  as 
was  the  case  with  the  other.  He  was 
dressed  in  a  bottle-green  spencer  and 
trousers  of  a  military  cut,  and  wore 
one  of  those  caps  which  in  the  days 
I  am  writing  of  were  the  fashion 
amongst  masters  and  mates. 

"  '  If  you  don't  mind  stepping  into 
the  cabin,'  said  the  man  with  whom 
I  was  conversing,  '  I  '11  show  you  a 
chart,  and  ask  you  to  pencil  out  a 
course  for  us  ;  and  with  your  leave, 
sir,  I  '11  tell  you  over  a  glass  of  wine 
exactly   how   it 's   come   about    that 


strange  BOventuucs  93 

we  're  too  few  to  carry  the  brig  to  her 
destination  unless  your  captain  will 
kindly  help  us.' 

"  *  Are  you  two  the  only  people 
aboard  ? '  said  I. 

"  '  The  only  people,'  he  answered. 

"Anywhere  else,  under  any  other 
conditions,  I  might  have  suspected  a 
treacherous  intention  in  two  men 
with  such  hanging  countenances  as 
this  lonely  brace  owned  ;  but  what 
could  I  imagine  to  be  afraid  of  aboard 
a  brig  holding  two  persons  only,  with 
the  whaler's  boat  and  three  men  with- 
in a  few  strokes  of  the  car,  and  the 
old  barque,  Siva7i^  full  of  livelies, 
many  of  them  deadly  in  the  art  of 
casting  the  harpoon,  within  easy 
hail  ? 

"  The  man  who  invited  me  below 
stepped  into  the  companion-way  ;  I 
followed  and  descended  the  short 
flight  of  steps.  The  instant  I  had 
gained  the  bottom  of  the  ladder  I 
knew  by  the  sudden  shadow  which 
came  into  the  light  that  the  compan- 
ion hatch  had  been  closed  ;  this  must 
have  been  done  by  the  fellow  who 
was  standing  at  the  wheel.  It  was 
wisely  contrived.  Assuredly  had  the 
way  been  open,  I  should  have  rushed 
upon  deck  and  sprung  overboard  : 
because  after  descending  the  steps  I 
beheld  five  or  six  men  standing  in  a 


94  Strange  BDventures 

sort  of  waiting  and  listening  posture 
under  the  skylight.  Instantly  my 
left  arm  was  gripped  by  the  man  who 
had  asked  me  to  step  below,  while 
another  fellow,  equally  powerful, 
and  equally  ruffianly  in  appearance, 
grasped  me  by  the  right  arm. 

"'Now,'  said  the  first  man,  'if 
you  make  the  least  bit  of  noise  or 
give  us  any  trouble,  we  '11  cut  your 
throat.  We  don't  intend  to  do  you 
any  harm,  but  we  want  your  services, 
and  you  '11  have  to  do  what  we  re- 
quire without  any  fuss.  If  not,  you  're 
a  dead  man.' 

"So  saying,  they  threw  open  the 
door  of  a  berth,  ran  me  into  it,  shut 
the  door,  and  shot  the  lock.  I  had 
been  so  completely  taken  by  surprise 
that  I  was  in  a  manner  stunned.  I 
stood  in  the  middle  of  the  cabin  just 
where  the  fellows  had  let  go  of  me, 
staring  around,  breathing  short  and 
fierce,  my  mind  almost  a  blank.  But 
I  quickly  rallied  my  wits.  I  under- 
stood I  had  been  kidnapped ;  by 
what  sort  of  people  I  could  not  im- 
agine, but  beyond  question  because 
I  understood  navigation,  as  I  had 
told  the  man.  I  listened,  but  heard 
no  noise  of  voices,  nor  movements  of 
people  in  the  cabin.  Through  the 
planks,  overhead,  however,  came  the 
sound  of  a  rapid  tread  of  feet,  ac- 


strange  BDventiires  95 

companied  by  the  thud  of  coils  of 
rope  flung  hastily  down.  The  cabin 
porthole  was  a  middling-sized,  cir- 
cular window.  1  saw  the  whaler  in 
it  as  in  a  frame.  I  unscrewed  the 
port,  but  with  no  intention  to  cry 
out,  never  doubting  for  a  moment 
from  the  looks  of  the  men  that  they 
would  silence  me  in  some  bloody 
fashion  as  had  been  threatened. 

**  Just  as  I  pulled  the  port  open  a 
voice  overhead  sang  out :  '  Get  back 
to  your  ship,  you  three  men  ;  your 
mate  has  consented  to  stop  with  us  as 
we  're  in  want  of  a  navigator.' 

"'Let  him  tell  us  that  himself,' 
said  one  of  my  men  ;  *  let  him  show 
up.     What  ha'  ye  done  with  him  ? ' 

" '  Be  off,'  roared  one  of  the  peo- 
ple, in  a  savage,  hurricane  note. 

"  There  was  a  little  pause  as  of 
astonishment  on  the  part  of  the 
boat's  crew — I  could  not  see  them, 
the  boat  lay  too  far  astern, — but  after 
a  bit  I  heard  the  splash  of  oars,  the 
boat  swept  into  the  sphere  of  the 
porthole,  and  I  beheld  her  making 
for  the  barque. 

"I  was  now  sensible,  however,  not 
only  by  observing  the  whaler  to  re- 
cede, but  by  hearing  the  streaming 
and  rippling  of  broken  waters  along 
the  bends,  that  the  people  of  the 
brig  had   in    some   fashion  trimmed 


96  Strange  B&rcntures 

sail  and  filled  upon  the  vessel.  We 
were  under  way.  The  barque  slided 
out  of  the  compass  of  the  porthole, 
but  now  I  heard  her  captain's  voice 
coming  across  the  space  of  water, 
clear  and  strong  : 

"  '  Brig  ahoy  !  What  do  you  mean 
by  keeping  my  mate  ? ' 

"  To  this  no  answer  was  returned. 
Again  the  captain  hailed  the  brig  ; 
but  owing  to  the  shift  in  the  postures 
of  the  two  vessels,  and  to  my  having 
nothing  but  a  circular  hole  to  hear 
through,  I  could  only  dimly  and  im- 
perfectly catch  what  was  shouted. 
The  cries  from  the  whaler  grew  more 
and  more  threadlike.  Indeed,  I  knew 
the  brig  must  be  a  very  poor  sailer  if 
she  did  not  speedily  leave  the  Swan 
far  astern. 

"  And  now,  as  I  conjectured  from 
the  noise  of  the  tread  of  feet  and  the 
hum  of  voices,  the  brig  on  a  sudden 
seemed  full  of  men  ;  not  the  eight  or 
ten  whom  I  had  beheld  with  my  own 
eyes,  but  a  big  ship's  company.  And 
the  sight  of  the  crowd,  I  reckoned, 
as  I  stood  hearkening  at  the  open 
porthole — -amazed,  confounded,  in 
the  utmost  distress  of  mind — Avas 
probably  the  reason  why  the  captain 
of  the  Swan  had  not  thought  proper 
to  send  boats  to  rescue  me.  Be  this 
as  it  will  I  was  thunderstruck  by  the 


Straiuic  Bc^vcnturcs  97 

discovery — the  discovery  of  my  hear- 
ing, and  of  my  capacity  as  a  sailor  of 
interpreting  shipboard  sounds — that 
this  Httle  brig,  which  I  had  supposed 
tenanted  by  two  men  only,  had  hidden 
a  whole  freight  of  human  souls  some- 
where away  in  the  execution  of  this 
diabolical  stratagem.  What  was  this 
vessel  ?  Who  were  the  people  on 
board  her?  What  use  did  they 
design  to  put  me  to  ?  And  when  I 
had  served  them,  what  was  to  be  my 
fate? 

"  Quite  three  hours  passed,  during 
which  I  was  left  unvisited.  Some- 
times I  heard  men  talking  in  the 
cabin  ;  over  my  head  there  went  a 
regular  swing  of  heavy  feet,  a  pendu- 
lum tread,  as  of  half-a-score  of  burly 
ruffians  marching  abreast,  and  keep- 
ing a  look-out  all  together.  The 
door  of  my  berth  was  opened  at  last, 
and  the  villain  who  had  seduced  me 
into  the  brig  stepped  in. 

"  '  I  was  sorry,'  said  he,  '  to  be 
obliged  to  use  threats.  Threats 
are  n't  in  our  way.  We  mean  no 
mischief.  Quite  the  contrary  ;  we 
count  upon  you  handsomely  serving 
us.  Come  into  the  cabin,  sir,  that  I 
may  make  you  known  to  my  mates.' 

"  His  manner  was  as  civil  as  a  fel- 
low with   his    looks   could    possibly 
contrive,  and  an  ugly  smile  sat  upon 
7 


98  Strange  BDventurcs 

his  face  whilst  he  addressed  me,  and 
I  observed  that  he  held  his  great 
straw  hat  in  his  hand,  as  though  to 
show  respect. 

"  About  twenty  men  were  assem- 
bled in  the  cabin.  I  came  to  a  dead 
stand  on  the  threshold  of  the  door  of 
the  berth,  so  astounded  was  I  by  the 
sight  of  all  those  fellows.  I  ran  my 
eye  swiftly  over  them  ;  they  were 
variously  dressed — some  in  the  attire 
of  seamen,  some  in  such  clothes  as 
gentlemen  of  that  period  wore,  a  few 
in  a  puzzling  sort  of  military  undress. 
They  all  had  cropped  heads,  and 
many  were  grim  with  a  few  days' 
growth  of  beard  and  moustache. 
They  had  the  felon's  look,  and  there 
was  somehow  a  suggestion  of  escaped 
prisoners  in  their  general  bearing. 
A  dark  suspicion  rushed  upon  me 
with  the  velocity  of  thought,  as  I 
stood  on  the  threshold  of  the  door 
of  the  berth  for  the  space  of  a  few 
heart-beats,  gazing  at  the  mob. 

*'  The  cabin  was  a  plain,  old- 
fashioned  interior.  A  stout,  wide 
table  secured  to  stanchions  ran  amid- 
ships. Overhead  was  a  skylight. 
There  were  a  few  chairs  on  either 
hand  the  table,  and  down  the  cabin 
on  both  sides  went  a  length  of  lock- 
ers. Some  of  the  men  were  smoking. 
A  few  sat  upon  the  table  with  their 


strange  B^vcnturc3  99 

arms  folded  ;  others  lounged  upon 
the  lockers,  and  in  chairs.  They 
stared  like  one  man  at  me,  whilst  I 
stood  looking  at  them. 

"  *  Is  he  a  navigator,  Swallow  ? ' 
said  one  of  them — a  wiry,  dark-faced 
man,  who  held  his  head  hung,  and 
looked  at  you  by  lifting  his  eyes. 

"  'Ay,  mate  of  the  whaler — James 
Grainger  by  name,'  answered  the 
fellow  who  had  opened  tlie  door  of 
my  berth.  '  Salute  him,  bullies. 
He  's  the  charley-pitcher  for  to  han- 
dle this  butter-box.' 

"The  voices  of  the  men  swelled 
into  a  roar  of  welcomes  of  as  many 
sorts  as  there  were  speakers.  One  of 
them  came  round  the  table  and  shook 
me  by  the  hand. 

*' '  My  name  's  Alexander  Steven- 
son,' said  he  ;  '  come  and  sit  you 
down  here.' 

"  All  very  civilly  he  conducted  me 
to  a  chair  at  the  head  of  the  table. 
And  now,  happening  to  glance  up- 
wards, I  spied  seven  or  eight  faces 
peering  down  at  me  through  the  sky- 
light. 

"  '  Swallow,  do  the  jawing,  will 
'ee  ?  '  said  the  man  who  called  him- 
self Stevenson. 

"  '  Why,  yes,'  answered  Swallow, 
posting  himself  at  the  top  of  the 
table,  and  addressing  me  through  the 


loo         strange  BDventures 


double  ranks  of  men  on  either  side. 
'This  is  how  it  stands  with  us,  Mr. 
Grainger — clear  as  mud  in  a  wine- 
glass ;  and  we  're  sorry  it  should 
have  come  to  it,  for  your  sake.  But 
do  your  duty  by  us  faithfully,  and 
we  '11  take  care  you  sha'  n't  suffer. 
We  're  thirty-one  convicts  in  all. 
We  were  thirty-two,  but  Milkliver 
Poppy  took  a  header,  and  went  for 
the  land  and  the  lickspittle  ;  if  he 
lives  he  '11  get  his  liberty  for  a  reward. 
We  were  bound  from  Hobart  to  Nor- 
folk Island.  You  '11  have  heard  of 
that  settlement  ? ' 

"  I  said  'Yes,'  and  an  odd  guttural 
laugh  broke  from  some  of  the  men. 

"  '  Well,  mister,'  continued  the  man 
Swallow,  '  Norfolk  Island  was  a  desti- 
nation that  did  n't  accord  with  our 
views.  And  what  more  d' ye  want 
me  to  say  ?  Here  we  are,  and  we 
want  our  liberty,  and  we  mean  to  get 
it  without  any  risk,  and  you  're  the 
man  to  help  us.' 

"'What  do  you  want  me  to  do?' 
said  I,  speaking  boldly,  and  looking 
about  me  steadily,  for  now  I  per- 
ceived exactly  how  it  was  with  the 
brig,  and  the  worst  had  been  ex- 
plained and  the  whole  mystery 
solved  when  Swallow  told  me  they 
were  convicts  ;  and  likewise  I  had 
plenty  of  time  to  screw  my  nerves  up. 


strange  Si>ventiircs  loi 

"  Several  men  spoke  at  once  on  my 
asking  the  above  question.  Steven- 
son roared  out  :  '  Let  Swallow  man 
the  jaw  tackle,  boys.  One  at  a  time, 
or  you  '11  addle  the  gent.' 

This  is  what  we  want  you  to  do/ 
said  Swallow.  '  There  are  scores  of 
islands  in  these  seas,  and  we  want 
you  to  carry  us  to  them  ;  heaving-to 
off  them  one  after  another  that  we 
may  pick  and  choose,  some  going 
ashore  here,  and  some  there,  for  our 
game  is  to  scatter.  That 's  clear,  I 
hope.' 

"  '  I  understand  you,'  said  I." 

"  Swallow  seemed  at  a  loss.  Steven- 
son then  said  :  '  But  we  shall  want 
nothing  that 's  got  a  white  settlement 
on  it  ;  nothing  that 's  likely  to  have 
a  pennant  flying  near.  We  've  got 
no  fixed  notions.  We  leave  it  to  you 
to  raise  the  islands,  and  it  '11  be  for 
us  to  select  and  take  our  chance.' 

"  *  There  '11  be  charts  aboard,  I 
suppose  ? '  said  I. 

"  Instantly  one  of  them  stepped 
into  a  cabin  and  returned  with  a  bag 
full  of  charts.  I  turned  them  out 
upon  the  table  and  promptly  came 
across  charts  of  the  North  and  South 
Pacific  oceans.  These  charts  gave 
me  from  the  Philippines  to  Cape  St. 
Lucas,  and  from  the  Eastern  Aus- 
tralian  coast  to   away  as  far  as  120 


I02         Strange  BDventuces 

deg.  W.  longitude.  The  men  did  not 
utter  a  word  whilst  1  looked  ;  I  could 
hear  their  deep  breathing,  mingled 
with  the  noise  of  a  hard  sucking  of 
pipes.  One  of  them  who  looked 
through  the  skylight  called  down. 
Swallow  silenced  him  with  a  gesture 
of  his  fist. 

"  '  Have  you  got  what  's  wanted 
here.  Mr.  Grainger  ? '  said  Stevenson. 

'All  that  I  shall  want  is  here,'  I 
answered. 

" '  A  low  growl  of  applause  ran 
through  the  men. 

" '  Will  you  be  able  to  light  upon 
the  islands  that  '11  jjrove  suitable  for 
us  men  to  live  on  without  risk  until 
the  opportunity  comes  in  the  shape 
of  vessels  for  us  to  get  away  ? '  said 
Swallow. 

"  '  I  '11  do  my  best  for  you,'  said  I. 
'  I  see  your  wants,  and  you  may  trust 
me,  providing  I  may  trust  you. 
What 's  to  become  of  me  when  you  're 
out  of  the  brig  ?     That 's  it !  ' 

" '  You  '11  stay  on  board  and  do 
what  you  like  with  the  vessel,' 
answered  Swallow.  '  She  '11  be  yours 
to  have  and  hold.  Make  what  you 
call  a  salvage  job  of  it,  and  your  pick- 
ings, mister,  'ull  be  out  and  away 
beyond  the  value  of  what  we  've  been 
obliged  to  make  you  leave  behind 
you.' 


strange  BOventures  103 


**  *  Ain't  that  fair  ? '  said  a  man. 

"  *  Is  my  life  safe  ?  '  said  I. 

"  '  Ay,'  cried  the  Swallow,  with  a 
great  oath,  striking  the  table  a  heavy 
blow  with  his  clenched  fist.  '  Under- 
stand this  and  comfort  yourself. 
There  's  been  no  blood  shed  in  this 
job,  and  there  '11  be  none,  so  help 
me  God — you  permitting,  mister.' 

"  When  this  was  said,  a  fellow, 
whom  I  afterwards  heard  called  by 
the  name  of  Jim  Davies,  asked  if  I 
was  willing  to  take  an  oath  that  I 
would  be  honest.  I  said,  '  Yes.'  He 
stood  up  and  dictated  an  oath  full  of 
blasphemy,  shocking  with  impreca- 
tions, and  grossly  illiterate.  The  eyes 
of  the  crowd  fastened  upon  me,  and 
some  of  the  ruffians  watched  me  in  a 
scowling  way  with  faces  dark  with 
suspicion,  till  I  repeated  the  horrid 
language  of  the  man  Davies,  and 
swore,  after  which  the  greater  bulk  of 
them  w^c-nt  on  deck. 

"  Swallow  put  some  beef  and  bis- 
cuit on  the  table  and  a  bottle  of  rum, 
and  bade  me  fall  to.  He  told  me  to 
understand  that  I  was  captain  of  the 
ship  ;  that  I  was  at  liberty  to  appoint 
officers  under  me  ;  and  that,  though 
none  of  the  convicts  had  been  sea- 
faring men,  they  had  learnt  how  the 
ropes  led  and  how  to  furl  canvas,  and 
would  obey  any  orders  for  the  com- 


I04         Strange  adventures 


mon  good  which  I  might  deliver.  I 
ate  and  drank,  being  determined  to 
put  the  best  face  I  could  on  this 
extraordinary  business,  and  asked  for 
the  captain's  cabin,  that  I  might  find 
out  what  nautical  instruments  the 
brig  carried.  Swallow,  Stevenson, 
and  a  convict  named  William  Watts 
conducted  me  to  a  berth  right  aft  on 
the  starboard  side.  They  told  me  it 
had  been  occupied  by  the  captain,  and 
should  be  mine.  Here  I  found  all  I 
needed  in  the  shape  of  navigating  in- 
struments, and  went  on  deck  with 
Swallow  and  the  others. 

"  I  could  see  nothing  of  the  Swan  ; 
she  was  out  of  sight  from  the  elevation 
of  the  brig's  bulwarks.  All  the  con- 
victs were  on  deck,  and  the  brig 
looked  full  of  men.  Those  who  had 
been  above  whilst  I  was  in  the  cabin 
with  the  others,  approached  and 
stared  at  me,  but  not  insolently — 
merely  with  curiosity.  They  seemed 
a  vile  lot,  one  and  all.  With  some  of 
them  every  other  word  was  an  oath  ; 
their  talk  was  almost  gibberish  to  my 
ears  with  thieves'  slang.  I  wondered 
to  find  not  one  of  them  dressed  in 
felon's  garb  ;  but  on  reflection  I  con- 
cluded that  they  had  plundered  the 
crew  and  the  people  who  had  had 
charge  of  them  and  of  the  Cyprus,  and 
had  forced  all  those  they  drove  out 


Strancic  BDvcntures  105 

of  the  brig  to  change  clothes  before 
quitting  the  vessel. 

"  However,  it  was  my  immediate 
policy  to  prove  my  sincerity.  I  valued 
my  life,  and  I  had  but  to  look  at  the 
men  to  reckon  that  it  would  not  be 
worth  a  rushlight  if  they  suspected  I 
was  not  doing  my  best  to  find  them 
a  safe  asylum  among  the  islands  in 
the  Pacific.  Accordingly,  I  fetched 
one  of  the  charts,  placed  it  upon  the 
skylight,  where  those  who  gathered 
about  me  could  see  it,  and  laid  off  a 
course  for  the  Tonga  Islands  ;  telling 
the  men  as  I  pointed  to  the  group 
upon  the  chart  that  if  no  island  there- 
abouts satisfied  them,  we  could  head 
for  the  Fijis  or  cruise  about  the 
Friendly  or  Navigator  groups,  work- 
ing our  way  as  far  as  the  Low  Archi- 
pelago, betwixt  which  and  the  first 
island  we  sighted  we  ought  certainly 
to  fall  in  with  the  sort  of  hiding- 
place  they  wanted.  My  words  raised 
a  grin  of  satisfaction  in  every  face 
within  reach  of  my  voice. 

"  I  stepped  to  the  helm  and  headed 
the  brig  on  a  northerly  course,  and 
stood  awhile  looking  at  the  compass 
to  satisfy  myself  that  the  convict  who 
grasped  the  spokes  understood  what 
to  do  with  the  wheel.  He  managed 
fairly  well.  I  then  asked  Swallow  to 
serve  as  my  chief  mate,  and  Steven- 


io6  Stcaii^e  HD\?enturc» 

son  to  act  as  second,  and  calling  the 
rest  of  the  felons  together,  I  divided 
them  into  two  watches.  My  next  step 
was  to  crowd  the  little  brig  with  all 
the  canvas  she  could  spread,  and  set 
every  stitch  of  it  properly.  Thus 
passed  the  first  day. 

''  I  have  no  time  to  enter  minutely 
into  what  happened  till  we  made  a 
small  point  of  land  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  Friendly  Islands.  There 
was  abundance  of  provisions  on 
board,  plenty  of  fresh  water,  and  a 
stock  of  spirits  intended  for  the  com- 
mandant and  soldiers  at  Macquarie 
Harbour  and  Norfolk  Island  ;  but 
though  the  convicts  freely  used  what- 
ever they  found  in  the  brig's  hold, 
never  once  was  there  an  instance 
of  drunkenness  amongst  them.  I 
guessed  them  all  to  be  as  desperate  a 
set  of  miscreants  as  were  ever  trans- 
ported for  crime  upon  crime  from  a 
convict  establishment  :  vet  thev  used 
me  verv  well.  Saving  their  villainous 
speech,  their  behaviour  was  fairly 
decorous.  They  sprang  to  my  bid- 
ding, sir'd  me  as  though  thev  had 
been  seamen  and  I  their  captain,  and, 
indeed,  by  their  behaviour  so  re- 
assured me  that  my  dread  of  being 
butchered  vanished,  and  I  carried  on 
the  brig  as  assured  of  my  personal 
safety — providing    I    dealt  by   them 


Stranflc  BDvcntures  107 


honestly — as  though  I  had  been  on 
board  the  old  Sivan. 

"  We  sighted  several  vessels,  but, 
as  you  may  suppose,  we  had  nothing 
to  say  to  them.  Off  the  first  island 
we  came  across  I  hove  the  brig  to  ; 
the  convicts  got  the  long-boat  out, 
and  a  dozen  of  them  went  ashore  to 
examine  and  report.  Five  returned  ; 
the  remainder  had  chosen  to  stay. 
We  made  three  of  the  islands  ;  the 
natives  of  two  of  them  were  threaten- 
ing, and  frightened  the  convicts  back 
to  the  brig  ;  the  third  proved  unin- 
habited— a  very  gem  of  an  island  was 
this, — and  here  fifteen  convicts  went 
ashore,  and  thrice  the  boat  went  be- 
tween the  island  and  the  brig  with 
provisions  and  necessaries  for  their 
maintenance. 

"  But  it  gave  me  a  fortnight  of 
anxious  hunting  to  discover  such 
another  island  as  the  remaining  con- 
victs considered  suitable.  This  at 
last  we  fell  in  with  midway  betwixt 
the  Union  group  and  the  Marquesas  ; 
and  here  the  rest  of  the  felons  went 
ashore,  after  almost  emptying  the 
brig's  hold  of  provisions  and  the  like. 
They  kept  the  long-boat,  and  left  me 
alone  in  the  brig.  Some  of  them 
shook  hands  with  me  as  they  went 
over  the  side,  and  thanked  me  for 
having  served  them  so  honestly. 


io8         Strange  BDvcntures 

"  It  was  in  the  evening  when  I  was 
left  alone.  The  sun  was  setting  be- 
hind the  island,  off  which  a  gentle 
breeze  was  blowing.  My  first  busi- 
ness was  to  run  the  ensign  aloft,  jack 
down.  I  then  trimmed  sail  as  best 
I  could  with  my  single  pair  of  hands, 
and,  putting  the  helm  amidships,  let 
the  brig  blow  away  south-west,  de- 
signing to  make  for  one  of  the  Navi- 
gator Islands,  where  I  might  hope  to 
fall  in  with  assistance,  either  from  the 
shore  or  from  a  vessel.  But,  shortly 
after  midnight  the  brig,  sailing 
quietly,  grounded  upon  a  coral  shoal, 
fell  over  on  to  her  bilge,  and  lay 
quiet.  I  was  without  a  boat,  and 
could  do  nothing  but  wait  for  day- 
light, and  pray  for  a  sight  of  some 
passing  vessel.  All  next  day  passed, 
and  nothing  showed  the  wide  horizon 
round  ;  but  about  nine  o'clock  that 
night,  the  moon  shining  clearly,  I 
spied  a  sail  down  in  the  south.  She 
drew  closer,  and  proved  a  little 
schooner.  I  hailed  her  with  a  des- 
perate voice,  and  to  my  joy  was 
answered,  and  in  less  than  ten  min- 
utes she  sent  a  boat  and  took  me 
aboard." 

The  South  Seaman's  narrative  ends 
abruptly  here,  but  it  is  known  that  he 
was  conveyed  to  Honolulu,  at  which 
place,   strangely  enough,    the    Swan 


strange  B^vcnturcs  109 


touched  after  he  had  been  ashore 
about  a  week.  He  at  once  went  on 
board,  related  his  strange  experiences 
to  his  captain,  and  proceeded  on  his 
whaling  career  with  the  easy  indiffer- 
ence of  a  sailor  accustomed  to  tragic 
surprises. 

The  brig  Cyprus  went  to  pieces  on 
the  shoal  on  which  she  had  grounded. 
It  is  on  record  that  of  the  convicts 
retaken  on  their  return  to  England, 
two  were  hanged — namely,  Watts  and 
Uavies  ;  two  others,  Beveridge  and 
Stevenson,  were  transported  for  life 
to  Norfolk  Island  ;  and  Swallow  was 
sent  back  to  Macquarie  Harbour. 


The    Adventtcres    of 
Three  Sailors, 

TOLD   BY   DANIEL   SMALL,    ONLY 
MATE. 

OUR  vessel  was  a  little  brig, 
named  the  Hindoo  Merchant, 
and  we  sailed  on  a  day  in 
March  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1857, 
from  Trincomalee  bound  to  Calcutta. 
The  captain,  myself,  and  three  sailors 
were  Europeans ;  the  rest  of  the 
ship's  company,  natives.  Though 
we  were  "  flying  light  "  as  the  term  is 
— that  is  to  say,  though  there  was  lit- 
tle more  in  the  ship's  hold  than  bal- 
last, and  though  she  had  tolerably 
nimble  heels,  for  what  one  might 
term  a  country-wallah — yet  the  little 
ship  was  so  bothered  with  head  winds 
and  light  airs,  and  long  days  of  stag- 
nation, that  we  had  been  several 
weeks  afloat  before  we  managed  to 
crawl  to  the  Norrad  of  the  Andaman 
parallels,  which  yet  left  a  long  stretch 
of  waters  before  us.  If  this  remain- 
no 


BDventures  of  ^Ibrec  Sailors    m 

der  of  the  ocean  was  not  to  be  tra- 
versed more  fleetly  than  the  space 
we  had  already  measured,  then  it 
was  certain  we  should  be  running 
short  of  water  many  a  long  while  be- 
fore the  Sandheads  came  within  the 
compass  of  our  horizon,  and  to  pro- 
vide against  the  most  horrible  situa- 
tion that  the  crew  of  a  ship  can  find 
themselves  placed  in,  we  kept  a 
bright  look-out  for  vessels,  and  within 
four  days  managed  to  speak  two ; 
but  they  had  no  water  to  spare,  and 
we  pushed  on. 

But  within  three  days  of  our  speak- 
ing the  second  of  the  two  vessels  we 
sighted  a  third,  a  large  barque,  who 
at  once  backed  her  topsail  to  our  sig- 
nals, and  hailed  us  to  know  what 
we  wanted.  My  captain,  Mr.  Roger 
Blow,  stood  up  in  the  mizzen-rigging 
and  asked  for  water.  They  asked 
how  much  we  needed  ;  Captain  Blow 
responded  that  whatever  they  could 
spare  would  be  a  god-send.  On 
this  they  sung  out  :  "  Send  a  boat 
with  a  cask  and  you  shall  have 
what  we  can  afford  to  part  with." 
Captain  Blow  then  told  me  to  put  an 
eighteen-gallon  cask  in  the  port- 
quarter  boat,  and  go  away  to  the 
barque  with  it.  "They  '11  not  fill 
it,"  said  he,  "  but  a  half  '11  be  better 
than  a  quarter,  and   a  quarter  '11  be 


112 


B&vcntiirc5  ot  tbvce  Sailors 


good  enough  ;  for  we  stand  to  pick 
up  more  as  we  go  along." 

I  had  called  to  two  of  the  English 
sailors,  named  Mike  Jackson  and 
Thomas  Fallows,  to  get  into  the 
boat,  when  the  cask  had  been  placed 
in  her  ;  and  when  I  had  entered  her 
the  darkeys  lowered  us ;  we  un- 
hooked and  shoved  off.  There  was 
a  pleasant  breeze  of  wind  blowing; 
it  blew  hot,  as  though  it  came  straight 
from  the  inside  of  an  oven,  the  door 
of  which  had  been  suddenly  opened  ; 
the  sky  had  the  sort  of  glazed  dim- 
ness of  the  human  eye  in  fever  ;  but 
right  overhead  it  was  of  a  copperish 
dazzle  where  the  roasting  orb  of  the 
sun  was.  I  could  not  see  a  speck  of 
cloud  anywhere,  which  rendered  what 
followed  the  more  amazing  to  my 
mind  for  the  suddenness  of  it. 

The  two  vessels  at  the  first  of  their 
speaking  had  been  tolerably  close  to- 
gether, but  some  time  had  been  spent 
in  routing  up  the  cask  and  getting  it 
into  the  boat,  and  setting  ourselves 
afloat,  so  that  at  the  moment  of  our 
shoving  off — spite  of  the  topsail  of 
each  vessel  being  to  the  mast — the 
space  had  widened  between  them,  till 
I  daresay  it  covered  pretty  nearly  a 
mile.  The  wind  was  at  west-nor'- 
west,  and  the  barque  bore  on  the 
lee    quarter    of    the    Hindoo    Mer- 


aDventurcs  of  G:brcc  Sailors    113 


chant.  The  great  heat  put  a  lan- 
guor into  the  arms  of  our  two  sea- 
men, and  the  oars  rose  and  fell 
slowly  and  weakly,  Jackson  said  to 
me  :  "I  hope,"  said  he,  "they  '11  be 
able  to  spare  us  a  bite  of  ship's  bread. 
Our  'n  is  no  better  than  sawdust,  and 
if  it  was  n't  for  the  worms  in  it,"  said 
he,  "  blast  me  if  there  'd  be  any  nutri- 
ment in  it  at  all.  Them  Cingalese 
ought  to  ha'  moored  their  island  off 
the  Chinese  coast.  They  'd  have 
grown  rich  with  teaching  the  John- 
nies more  tricks  than  they  're  master 
of,  at  plundering  sailors." 

"The  Hindoo  Merchant's  bread 
is  n't  up  to  much,  Fallows,"  said  I, 
"but  this  is  no  atmosphere  to  talk  of 
bread  in.  What  's  aboard  will  carry 
us  to  the  Hooghley.  It  is  water  we 
have  to  fix  our  minds  on." 

We  drew  alongside  of  the  tall 
barque,  and  the  master,  after  looking 
over  the  rail,  asked  me  to  step  aboard 
and  drink  a  glass  with  him  in  his 
cabin,  "for,"  says  he,  "this  is  no  part 
of  the  ocean  to  be  thirsty  in,"  and  he 
then  gave  directions  for  the  cask  to 
be  got  out  of  the  boat,  and  a  drink  of 
rum  and  water  to  be  handed  down  to 
the  two  seamen. 

I  stepped  into  the  cabin  and  the  cap- 
tain put  a  bottle  of  brandy  and  some 
cold   water  on  the  table.     He  asked 


114    HDventures  Of  a:bree  Satlors 

me  several  questions  about  the  brig, 
and  how  long  we  were  out,  and  where 
we  were  from,  and  the  like,  and  one 
thing  leading  to  another,  he  hap- 
pened to  mention  the  town  he  was 
born  in,  which  was  my  native  place 
too — Ashford,  in  the  county  of  Kent, 
— and  here  was  now  a  topic  to  set  us 
yarning,  for  I  knew  some  of  his 
friends  and  he  knew  some  of  mine  ; 
and  the  talk  seemed  to  do  him  so 
much  good,  whilst  it  was  so  agreeable 
to  me,  that  neither  of  us  seemed  in  a 
hurry  to  end  it.  This  is  the  only  ex- 
cuse I  can  offer  for  lingering  on  the 
barque  longer  than,  as  circumstances 
proved,  I  ought  to  have  done. 

At  last  I  got  up  and  said  I  must  be 
off,  and  I  thanked  him  most  kindly 
for  the  obliging  reception  of  me,  and 
for  his  goodness  in  supplying  the 
brig  with  water,  and  I  gave  him  Cap- 
tain Blow's  compliments,  and  desired 
to  know  if  we  could  accommodate 
him  in  any  way  in  return.  He  an- 
swered "  Nothing,  nothing,"  stepping 
through  the  hatch  as  he  said  it,  and 
an  instant  after  he  set  up  his  throat 
in  a  cry. 

"  You  '11  have  to  bear  a  hand 
aboard,"  says  he,  with  a  face  of  as- 
tonishment ;  "  look  yonder  !  'T  is 
rolling  down  upon  your  brig  like 
smoke."     He  pointed  to  the  vessel, 


BOvcntuixs  ot  ^bree  Sailors    115 

and  a  little  way  past  her  I  spied  a 
long  line  of  white  vapour  no  higher 
than  Dover  cliff  as  it  looked,  but  as 
dense  as  those  rocks  of  chalk  too. 
The  sun  made  steam  of  it,  but 
already  it  was  putting  a  likeness  of 
its  own  blankness  into  the  sky  over 
it,  which  seemed  to  be  dying  out,  as 
the  vapour  came  along,  as  the  light 
perishes  in  a  looking-glass  upon 
which  you  breathe.  I  ran  to  the 
side  and  sawmy  boat  under  the  gang- 
way and  the  two  men  in  her.  The 
cask  was  in  the  stern  of  the  boat. 
The  master  of  the  barque  cried  out 
tome:  "Will  you  not  stay  till  that 
smother  clears  ?  You  may  lose  your 
brig  in  it."  I  replied  :  "  No,  sir, 
thank  you.  I  will  take  my  chance. 
It  is  more  likely  I  should  lose  her  by 
remaining  here,"  and  with  a  flourish 
of  the  hand  I  dropped  over  the  side 
and  entered  the  boat.  "  Now,"  cried 
I,  "  pull  like  the  devil,  men." 

They  threw  their  oars  over  and  fell 
to  rowing  fiercely  ;  but  the  barque 
was  not  five  cables'  length  astern  of 
us  when  the  first  of  the  white  cliff  of 
vapour  smote  the  Hindoo  Merchant, 
and  she  vanished  in  it  like  a  star  in  a 
cloud.  There  was  a  fresh  breeze  of 
wind  behind  that  line  of  sweeping 
thickness,  and  in  places,  at  the  base 
of  the   mass  of  blankness,  it  would 


ii6    BDvcnturcs  of  Cbree  Sailors 

dart  out  in  swift  racings  of  shadow- 
that  made  one  think  of  the  feelers  of 
some  gigantic  marine  spider,  probing 
under  its  cobweb  as  though  feeling 
its  way  along.  In  a  few  minutes  the 
cloud  drove  down  over  us  with  a  loud 
whistling  of  wind,  and  the  water  close 
to  the  boat's  side  ran  in  short,  small 
seas,  every  head  of  it  hissing  ;  but  to 
within  the  range  of  a  biscuit  toss  all 
was  flying,  glistening  obscurity,  with 
occasional  bursts  of  denser  thick- 
nesses which  almost  hid  one  end  of 
the  boat  from  the  other.  It  was 
about  six  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
and  there  might  be  yet  another  hour 
of  sunshine. 

*'  'Vast  rowing  !  "  says  I  presently, 
"you  may  keep  the  oars  over,  but 
there  's  no  good  in  pulling,  short  of 
keei)ing  her  head  to  wind.  This  is 
too  thick  to  last." 

"Ain't  so  sure  of  that,"  says  Fal- 
lows, taking  a  slow  look  round  at  the 
smother,  "  I  've  been  in  these  here 
seas  for  two  days  running  in  weather 
arter  this  pattern." 

"  rity  we  did  n't  stay  aboard  the 
barque,"  says  Jackson. 

"A  plague  on  your  pities!"  I 
cried.  "  I  know  my  duty,  I  believe. 
Suppose  we  had  stayed  aboard  the 
barque,  we  stood  to  be  separated  from 
the  brig  in  this  breeze  and  muckiness, 


Zl&v>cntiirc6  of  Cbrec  SailorB    1 1 7 

and  was  her  skipper  by-and-bye  going 
to  sail  in  search  of  the  Hindoo  Mer- 
chant ? 

"  A  gun  !  "  cries  Fallows. 

"That  '11  be  the  brig,"  says  I, 
catching  the  dull  thud  of  the  explo- 
sion of  a  nine-pounder  which  the 
Hindoo  Merchant  carried  on  her 
quarter-deck. 

"  Seems  to  me  as  though  it  sounded 
from  yonder,"  says  Jackson,  looking 
away  over  the  starboard  beam  of  the 
boat. 

"What  have  ye  there,  men  ?  "  says 
I,  nodding  at  a  bundle  of  canvas 
under  the  amidship  thwart. 

"  Ship's  bread,"  answered  Jackson, 
with  a  note  of  sulkiness  in  his  voice. 
"  It  was  hove  to  us  on  my  asking  for 
a  bite.  She  was  a  liberal  barque. 
The  cask  's  more  'n  three-quarters 
full." 

We  hung  upon  our  oars  listening 
and  waiting.  There  was  a  second 
gun  ten  minutes  after  the  first  had 
been  fired,  and  that  was  the  last  we 
heard.  The  report  was  thin  and  dis- 
tant, but  whether  ahead  or  astern  I 
could  not  have  guessed  by  barkening. 
I  kept  up  my  own  and  endeavoured 
to  inspirit  the  hearts  of  the  others  by 
saying  that  this  fog  which  had  come 
down  in  a  moment  would  end  in  a 
moment,    that   it    was  all   clear   sky 


iis    BC>v>cnturc5  of  cTbree  Sailors 

above  with  plenty  of  moonlight  for 
us  in  the  night  if  it  should  happen 
that  the  sun  went  down  upon  us  thus, 
that  Captain  Blow  was  not  going  to 
lose  us  and  his  boat  and  the  cask  of 
fresh  water  if  it  was  in  mortal  sea- 
manship to  hold  a  vessel  in  one  situa- 
tion ;  but  the  fellows  were  not  to  be 
cheered,  their  spirits  sank  and  their 
faces  grew  longer  as  the  complexion 
of  the  fog  told  us  that  the  sun  was 
sinking  fast,  and  I  own  that  when  it 
came  at  last  to  his  setting,  and  no 
break  in  the  flying  vapour,  and  a 
blackness  as  of  ink  stealing  into  it 
out  of  the  swift  tropic  dusk,  I  myself 
felt  horribly  dejected,  greatly  fearing 
that  we  had  lost  the  brig  for  good. 

Just  before  the  last  of  the  twilight 
faded  out  of  the  smoke  that  shrouded 
us,  we  lashed  both  oars  together  and, 
attaching  them  to  the  boat's  painter, 
threw  them  overboard  and  rode  to 
them.  Our  thirst  was  now  extreme, 
and  to  appease  it — being  without  a 
dipper  to  drop  into  the  cask — we  sank 
a  handkerchief  through  the  bung-hole 
and  wrung  it  out  in  the  half  of  a 
cocoa-nut  shell  that  was  in  the  boat  as 
a  baler,  and  by  this  means  procured 
a  drink,  each  man.  Grateful  to  God 
indeed  was  I  tliat  we  had  fresh  water 
with  us.  I  beat  the  cask,  and  gath- 
ered by  the  sound  that  it  was  more 


HDvcnturcB  of  Ubrcc  Sailors    ng 


than  half  full.  Heaven  was  bounti- 
ful too  in  providing  us  with  biscuit. 
It  had  been  the  luckiest  of  thoughts 
on  Jackson's  part,  though  he  had  de- 
sired nothing  more  than  to  obtain  a 
relish  for  his  own  rations  of  buffalo 
hump  aboard. 

I  never  remember  the  like  of  the 
pitch  darkness  of  that  night.  There 
was  a  moon,  pretty  nearly  a  full  one 
if  I  recollect  aright ;  but  had  she 
been  shining  over  the  other  side  of 
the  world  it  would  have  been  all  the 
same.  Her  delicate  silver  beam  could 
not  pierce  the  vapour,  and  never 
once  did  I  behold  the  least  glistening 
of  her  radiance  anywhere.  There 
was  a  constant  noise  of  wind  in  the 
dense  thickness,  and  an  incessant 
seething  and  crackling  of  waters  run- 
ning nimbly,  so  that  though  we  would 
from  time  to  time  bend  our  ears  in 
the  hope  of  catching  the  rushing  and 
pouring  noise  of  the  sea  divided  by 
a  ship's  stem,  we  never  could  hear 
more  than  the  whistling  of  the  breeze 
and  the  lapping  of  the  hurrying  little 
surges.  There  was  a  deal  of  fire  in 
the  water,  and  it  came  and  went  in 
sheets  like  the  reflection  of  lightning, 
insomuch  that  we  might  have  be- 
lieved ourselves  in  the  heart  of  an 
electric  storm  ;  but  happily  the  wind 
never  gathered  so  much  weight  as  to 


I20    BDvcnturcs  of  Zbvec  Sailors 

raise  a  troublesome  sea,  and  though 
the  boat  tumbled  friskily  she  kept 
dry,  and  there  was  nothing  in  her 
movements  to  render  me  uneasy. 

I  told  the  two  fellows  to  lie  down 
in  the  bottom  of  the  boat,  and  I  kept 
watch  till  I  reckoned  it  was  drawing 
on  to  about  one  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing. Twice  or  thrice  during  that 
long  and  wretched  vigil  there  seemed 
a  promise  of  the  weather  clearing, 
and  I  gazed  with  the  yearning  of  the 
shipwrecked  ;  but  regularly  it  thick- 
ened and  blackened  down  upon  us 
again  in  blasts  like  the  belchings  of  a 
three-decker's  broadside.  It  was  a 
very  watery  vapour,  and  I  was  early 
wet  to  the  skin. 

At  about  one  o'clock,  as  I  calcu- 
lated, I  awoke  Jackson,  and  bade  him 
keep  an  eager  look-out  and  not  to 
spare  his  ear  in  putting  it  against  the 
night,  "for,"  says  I,  "there  's  noth- 
ing to  be  done  with  the  eyes  ;  it 's  all 
for  the  hearing  at  such  a  time  as  this, 
mate,  and  what  you  can't  watch  for 
you  must  listen  for  ;  and  wake  me  up 
to  any  sound  you  may  hear,  that  our 
three  throats  may  hail  together.  O 
God,"  says  I,  "if  it  would  but  thin 
and  show  the  brig  within  reach  of 
our  shouts  !  "  With  that  I  lay  down 
and  was  soon  fast  asleep,  being  worn 
out   with    excitement  and  grief,  and 


BDventures  of  Zbvcc  Sailors    121 

when  I  awoke  it  was  daylight,  for 
there  's  but  little  dawn  off  the  Anda- 
mans  ;  the  sun  in  those  seas  leaps  on 
to  the  horizon  from  the  night  as  it 
were,  and  flashes  it  into  day  iri  a 
breath. 

It  was  still  thick  and  troubled 
weather,  but  clear  to  about  two  miles 
from  the  side  of  the  boat.  There 
was  very  little  wind,  and  a  long  swell 
of  the  colour  of  lead  was  running 
from  the  southward.  The  vapour 
had  broken  up  and  lay  in  masses 
round  about  us — long,  white  twisted 
folds  of  it,  like  powder  smoke  after  a 
great  battle  ;  and  to  the  top  of  those 
heaps  of  thickness  the  sky  sloped  in 
a  sort  of  grey  shadow,  with  a  little 
pencilling  here  and  there  of  some 
small  livid  ring  of  mist,  which  looked 
stirless  as  though  what  air  there  was 
blew  low.  There  was  nothing  in 
sight ;  we  strained  our  gaze  into 
every  quarter  but  I  saw  there  was 
nothing  to  be  seen.  This  smote  me 
to  the  heart.  I  had  been  in  my  time 
in  several  situations  of  peril  at  sea, 
but  had  never  yet  experienced  the 
horrors  of  an  open  boat  amidst  a 
vast  waste  of  waters,  such  as  was  this 
Bay  of  Bengal  with  the  Andaman 
Islands  some  hundreds  of  miles  dis- 
tant, and  a  near  menace  of  roasting 
heat  when  the  wide  grey  stretch  of 


122    BDvcntiircs  of  Cbrec  Sailors 

cloud  should  have  passed  away  and 
laid  bare  the  sun's  eye  of  fire.  We 
gazed  with  melancholy  faces  one  at 
another. 

"  What  's  to  be  done  ?  "  says  Fal- 
lows, bringing  his  bloodshot  eyes 
from  the  sea  to  my  face  ;  "  if  we  had 
a  sail  to  set  we  might  have  a  chance." 

"There  are  two  oars,"  said  I,  "for 
a  mast  and  a  yard,  and  our  shirts 
must  furnish  a  sail." 

"But  how  are  we  to  head?"  says 
Jackson. 

"Right  afore  the  wind,  I  suppose," 
says  I ;  "  there  '11  be  no  ratching  with 
the  rags  we  're  going  to  hoist.  Right 
afore  the  wind,"  I  says ;  "  and  we 
must  trust  to  God  to  keep  us  in  view 
till  something  heaves  in  sight — which 
is  pretty  well  bound  to  happen  I 
suppose  when  there  comes  some  wind 
along." 

I  opened  the  canvas  parcel,  and 
found  a  matter  of  thirty  biscuits  ;  all 
very  sweet,  good  bread.  We  took 
each  of  us  a  piece,  and  followed  on 
with  a  drink,  and  then  went  to  work 
to  get  our  oars  in.  We  all  three  wore 
shirts,  and  we  stripped  them  off  our 
backs  and  cut  them  to  lie  open.  I 
had  a  little  circular  cushion  of  stout 
pins  in  my  pocket,  such  as  a  sailor 
might  carry,  and  with  them  we 
brought  the  squares  of  the  shirts  to- 


aDvcnturce  of  XLbvcc  Sailori?    123 

gether,  and  seized  the  corners  to 
one  of  the  oars  by  yarns  out  of  an 
end  of  painter  we  cut  off,  then 
stepped  the  other  oar,  and  secured  it 
with  another  piece  of  the  painter ; 
and  now  we  had  a  sort  of  sail,  the 
mere  sight  of  which,  even,  was  a 
small  satisfaction  to  us,  since  the 
shirts  being  white  they  must  needs 
make  a  good  mark  upon  the  water, 
something  not  to  be  missed,  unless 
wilfully,  by  a  passing  vessel. 

The  morning  passed  away,  and  a 
little  after  twelve  o'clock  the  water 
in  the  south  was  darkened  by  the 
brushing  of  a  wind,  which  drove  the 
hovering  masses  of  vapour  before  it ; 
and  presently  they  had  totally  disap- 
peared, leaving  a  sky  with  rents  and 
yawns  of  blue  in  places,  and  a  clear 
glass-like  circle  of  horizon,  upon 
which,  however,  there  was  nothing 
to  be  seen.  The  boat  moved  slowly 
before  the  wind,  which  blew  hot  as  a 
desert  breeze  ;  I  steered,  and  Jack- 
son and  Fallows  sat  near  me,  one  or 
the  other  from  time  to  time  getting 
on  to  a  thwart  to  take  a  view  of  the 
ocean,  under  the  sharp  of  his  hand. 

In  this  fashion  passed  the  after- 
noon. The  night  came  with  a  deal 
of  fire  in  the  water,  and  a  very  clear 
moon  floating  in  lagoons  of  velvet 
softness  betwixt    the    clouds.      The 


124    B&pcnturcs  of  Cbree  Sailors 

weather  continued  quiet  ;  the  long 
swell  made  a  pleasant  cradle  of  the 
boat,  and  the  night-wind  being  full 
of  dew,  breathed  refreshingly  upon 
our  hot  cheeks  ;  whilst  our  ears  were 
soothed  by  the  rippling  noise  of  the 
running  waters  which  seemed  to  cool 
the  senses,  as  the  breeze  did  the 
body. 

It  w-as  almost  a  dead  calm,  how- 
ever, at  daybreak  next  morning. 
The  atmosphere  was  close  and  heavy, 
and  there  was  a  strange  strong  smell 
of  seaweed,  rising  off  the  ocean, 
which  caused  me  to  look  narrowly 
about,  with  some  dim  dream  of  per- 
ceiving land,  though  I  should  have 
known  there  was  no  land  for  leagues 
and  leagues. 

Whilst  we  were  munching  a  biscuit, 
I  observed  an  appearance  of  steam 
lifting  off  the  water,  at  a  distance  of 
about  half-a-mile  on  the  starboard 
side  of  the  boat.  The  vapour  came 
out  of  the  water  in  the  shape  of  cork- 
screws, spirally  working,  and  they 
melted  at  a  height  of  perhaps  ten  or 
fifteen  feet.  I  counted  five  of  these 
singular  emissions.  Jackson  said 
that  they  were  fragments  of  mist,  and 
we  might  look  out  for  such  another 
thickness  as  had  lost  us  the  brig. 
Fallows  said  :  "No  ;  that 's  no  mist, 
mate  ;  that  is  as  good  steam  as  ever 


BC>vcnture6  of  tTbrec  Sailors    125 

blew  out  of  a  kettle.  Are  there  places 
where  the  water  boils  in  this  here 
ocean  ?" 

As  he  said  these  words,  an  extra- 
ordinary thrill  passed  through  the 
boat,  followed  by  a  sound  that 
seemed  more  like  an  intellectual  sen- 
sation than  a  real  noise.  What  to 
compare  it  to  I  don't  know  ;  it  was  as 
though  it  had  thundered  under  the 
sea.  An  instant  later,  up  from  the 
part  of  the  water  where  the  corkscrew 
appearances  were,  rose  a  prodigious 
body  of  steam.  It  soared  without  a 
sound  from  the  deep  ;  it  was  balloon- 
shaped  but  of  mountainous  propor- 
tions. 

"  A  sea-quake  !  "  roared  Jackson. 
"Stand  by  for  the  rollers!" 

But  no  sea  followed.  I  could  wit- 
ness no  commotion  whatever  in  the 
water ;  the  light,  long  swell  flowed 
placidly  into  the  base  of  the  mass  of 
whiteness,  and  there  was  nothing  be- 
sides visible  on  the  breast  of  the  sea, 
save  the  delicate  wrinkling  of  the 
weak  draught  of  air.  Very  quickly  the 
vapour  thinned  as  steam  does,  and  as 
it  melted  off  the  surface,  it  disclosed 
to  our  astonished  gaze  what  at  first 
sight  seemed  to  me  the  fabric  of  a 
great  ship,  but  after  viewing  it  for  a 
moment  or  two,  I  distinctly  made  out 
the   form  of   an    old-fashioned   hull 


126    BDventures  of  cbree  Sailors 

with  the  half  of  much  such  another 
hull  as  she,  alongside,  both  apparently 
locked  together  about  the  bows  ; 
and  they  seemed  to  be  supported  by 
some  huge  gleaming  black  platform  ; 
but  what  it  was  we  could  not  tell. 

The  three  of  us  drew  a  deep  breath 
as  we  surveyed  the  floating  objects. 
The  steam  was  gone  ;  there  they  lay 
plain  and  bare  ;  it  was  as  though  the 
wand  of  a  magician  had  touched  the 
white  mass  and  transformed  it  into 
the  objects  we  gazed  at. 

"  Down  with  the  sail,"  says  I, 
"there  's  something  yonder  worth 
looking  at." 

We  got  the  oars  over,  and  pulled  in 
the  direction  of  the  fabrics.  As  we 
approached  I  could  scarce  credit  the 
evidence  of  my  own  sight.  The  form 
of  one  of  the  vessels  was  perfect. 
She  was  of  an  antique  build,  and  be- 
longed to  a  period  that  I  reckoned 
was  full  eighty  years  dead  and  gone. 
The  other — the  half  of  her  I  should 
say — showed  a  much  bluffer  bow,  and 
had  been  a  vessel  of  some  burthen. 
But  the  wonder  was  the  object  on 
which  they  rested  This  was  no  more 
nor  less  than  the  body  of  a  great  dead 
whale  ! 

We  first  needed  to  lose  something 
of  our  amazement  ere  we  could 
reasonably  speculate  upon  what  we 


B&venturc3  of  ^brcc  Sailors    127 

saw  ;    then  how    this  had  happened 
grew  plain  to  our  minds.     The  two 
craft,   God  knows   how    many    long 
years  before,  had  been  in  action  and 
foundered  in  conflict.     The  smaller 
vessel — I   mean    the    one    that    lay 
whole  before  us — might  have  been  a 
privateersman  ;  she  had  something  of 
a  piratical  sheer  forward,  there  were 
no  signs  of  a  mast  aboard  either  of 
them,  one  had  grappled  the  other  to 
board  her  I  dare  say,  and  they  had 
both  gone  to  the  bottom  linked.  The 
vessel  of  which  only  half  remained 
may  have  broken  her  back  in  settling, 
and,  by-and-bye,  the  after  part  of  her 
drifted  away,  leaving  the  dead  bows 
still    gripped    by    the    dead    enemy 
alongside.     But  how  came  the  whale 
there  ?   Well,  we  three  men  reasoned 
it  thus,  and  I  don't  doubt  we  were 
right.     At  the  moment    of   the   sea- 
quake   the     whale     was     stemming 
steadily  towards  the  two  wrecks  rest- 
ing on  the  bottom.     They  were  lifted 
by  the  explosion,  which  at  the  same 
time  killed   the  whale  ;  but  the  im- 
petus of  the  vast  form  slided  it  to 
under  the  lifted  keels,  where  it  came 
to  a  stand.     A  dead  whale  floats,  as 
we  know.  This  whale  being  dead  was 
bound  to  rise,  and  the  buoyancy  of 
the  immense  mass  brought  the  two 
craft  up  with  it,  and  there  they  were, 


I2S    BDvcnturcs  of  Zbtce  Sailors 

poised  by  the  gleaming  surface  of  the 
whale,  which  was  depressed  by  their 
weight,  so  that  no  portion  of  the 
head,  tail,  or  fluke  was  visible. 

"  It 's  them  vessels  being  con- 
nected," says  Jackson,  "as  keeps 
them  afloat.  If  what  holds  them  to- 
gether forrard  was  to  part  they  'd 
slide  off  that  there  slifjperiness  and 
sink." 

We  rowed  close,  the  three  of  us 
greatly  marvelling,  as  you  may  sup- 
pose, for  never  had  the  like  of  such 
an  incident  as  this  happened  at  sea 
within  the  knowledge  of  ever  a  one 
of  us,  and  Fallows  alone  was  a  man 
of  five  and  forty,  who  had  been 
using  the  ocean  for  thirty-three  years. 
It  was  as  scaring  as  the  rising  of  a 
corpse  out  of  the  depths — as  scaring 
as  if  that  corpse  turned  to  and  spoke 
when  his  head  showed, — to  see  those 
two  vessels  lying  in  the  daylight  after 
eighty,  aye,  and  perhaps  a  hundred 
years  of  the  green  silence  hundreds 
of  fathoms  deep,  locked  in  the  same 
posture  in  which  they  had  gone 
down,  making  you  almost  fancy  that 
you  could  hear  the  thunder  of  their 
guns,  witness  the  flashing  of  cutlasses, 
and  the  rush  of  the  boarders  to  the 
bulwarks  amidst  a  hurricane  note  of 
huzzaing  and  shrieks  of  the  wounded. 

They    were    both   of   them    hand- 


BDvcnturc^  of  Zhvcc  Sailors    129 

somely  crusted  with  shells,  not  of  the 
barnacle  sort,  but  such  as  you  would 
pick  up  anywhere  in  Ceylon  or  the 
Andaman,  some  of  them  finely  col- 
oured, many  of  them  white  as  milk, 
of  a  thousand  different  patterns  ;  and 
there  was  not  one  of  them  but  what 
was  beautiful. 

"  Let  's  board  her,"  says  Jackson. 

"  Ah,  but  if  that  whale  be  alive  !  " 
says  Fallows. 

"  No  fear  of  that,"  said  I  ;  _"  if  he 
was  alive  there  'd  be  some  stir  in  him. 
The  whale's  not  the  danger  ;  it 's  the 
lashing,  which  may  part  at  any  mo- 
ment. It  should  be  in  a  fair  way  of 
rottenness  after  so  many  years  of  salt 
water,  and  if  it  goes  the  vessels  go." 

"  I  'm  for  boarding  her  all  the 
same,"  says  Jackson. 

But  first  of  all  we  pulled  round  to  be- 
twixt the  bows  of  the  craft  to  see  what 
it  was  that  connected  them,  and  we 
found  that  they  were  held  together 
by  something  stronger  than  an  old 
grapnel.  The  bluff  of  the  bows  came 
together  like  walls  cemented  by  sand 
and  shell,  and  it  was  easy  by  a  mere 
glance  to  perceive  that  they  would 
hold  together  whilst  the  sea  con- 
tinued tranquil.  Betwixt  their  heels 
was  a  hollow  which  the  round  of  the 
whale  nicely  filled,  and  there  they 
all  three  lay,  very  slowly  and  sol- 
9 


I30    BJ^venturcs  of  Cbree  Sailors 

emnly  rolling  upon  the  swell  in  as 
deep  a  silence  as  ever  they  had  risen 
from. 

We  hung  upon  our  oars  speculating 
awhile,  and  then  fell  to  talking  our- 
selves into  extravagant  notions.  Fal- 
lows said  that  if  she  had  been  a 
privateer  she  might  have  money  in 
her,  or  some  purchase  ahyway  worth 
coming  at.  1  was  not  for  ridiculing 
the  fancy,  and  Jackson  gazed  at  the 
craft  with  a  yearning  eye. 

"Let  's  get  aboard,"  says  he. 

"  Very  well,"  says  I,  and  we  agreed 
that  Fallows  should  keep  in  the  boat 
ready  to  pick  us  up,  if  the  hulk  should 
go  down  suddenly  under  us.  We 
easily  got  aboard.  From  the  gun- 
wale of  our  boat  we  could  place  our 
hands  upon  the  level  of  the  deck, 
where  the  bulwarks  were  gone,  and 
the  shells  were  like  steps  to  our  feet. 
There  was  nothing  much  to  be  seen, 
however  ;  the  decks  were  coated  with 
shells  as  the  sides  were,  and  they 
went  flush  from  the  taffrail  to  the  eyes 
with  never  a  break,  everything  being 
clean  gone,  saving  the  line  of  the 
hatches  which  showed  in  slightly 
raised  squares,  under  the  crust  of 
shells  that  lay  everywhere  like 
armour. 

"  l>ord  !  "  cried  Jackson  ;  "  what 
would  I  give  for  a  chopper  or  pick- 


a&rcnturcs  of  tTbrce  Sailors    131 


axe  to  smash  open  that   there  hatch, 
so  as  to  get  inside  of  her." 

"  Inside  of  her?  "  says  I  ;  "  why 
she  '11  be  full  of  water  !  " 

"  That 's  to  be  proved,  Mr.  Small," 
says  he. 

We  walked  forward  into  the  bows, 
and  clearly  made  out  the  shape  of  a 
grapnel  thick  with  shells,  with  its 
claws  upon  the  bulwark  rail  of  the- 
half-ship  alongside,  and  there  was  a 
line  stretched  between,  belayed  to 
what  might  have  been  a  kevel  on  a 
stanchion  of  the  craft  we  were  in. 
This  rope  was  as  lovely  as  a  piece  of 
fancy  work,  with  tiny  shells  ;  but  on 
my  touching  it,  to  see  if  it  was  taut, 
it  parted  as  if  it  had  been  formed  of 
smoke,  and  each  end  fell  with  a  littk 
rattle  against  the  side  as  though  it 
had  been  a  child's  string  of  beads. 

We  were  gaping  about  us,  almost 
forgetting  our  distressed  situation,  in 
contemplation  of  these  astonishing 
objects  which  had  risen  like  ghosts 
from  the  mysterious  heart  of  the 
deep,  when  we  heard  Fallows  calling, 
and  on  our  running  to  the  side  to 
learn  what  he  wanted,  we  saw  him 
standing  up  in  the  boat,  pointing  like 
a  madman  into  the  southward.  It 
was  the  white  canvas  of  a  vessel, 
clearer  to  us  than  to  him,  who  was 
lower   by   some    feet.     The   air   was 


132    Hi>v>ciiture0  of  Cbrce  Sailors 

still  a  weak  draught,  but  the  sail  was 
risinw  with  a  nimbleness  that  made 
us  know  she  was  bringing  a  breeze 
of  wind  along  with  her,  and  in  half- 
an-hour's  time  she  had  risen  to  the 
black  line  of  her  bulwarks  rail,  dis- 
closing the  fabric  of  what  was  ap- 
parently a  brig  or  barque,  heading 
almost  dead  on  her  end  for  us. 

Jackson  and  I  at  once  tumbled 
into  the  boat,  but  we  were  careful  to 
keep  her  close  to  the  two  craft,  and 
the  amazing  platform  they  floated  on, 
for  they  furnished  out  a  show  that 
was  not  to  be  missed  aboard  the  ap- 
proaching vessel,  whereas  the  boat 
must  make  little  more  than  a  speck 
though  but  half-a-mile  distant. 

The  breeze  the  vessel  was  bringing 
along  with  her  was  all  about  us  pres- 
ently with  a  threat  of  weight  in  it.  We 
stepped  an  oar,  with  the  shirts  atop, 
and  they  blew  out  bravely  and  made 
a  good  signal. 

"  Why,  see,  Mr.  Small  !  "  cries 
Jackson,  on  a  sudden,  "  ain't  she  the 
Hindoo  Merchant?  " 

I  stood  awhile,  and  then  joyfully 
exclaimed,  "  Ay,  't  is  the  old  hooker 
herself,  thanks  be  to  God  !  " 

I  knew  her  by  her  short  fore-topgal- 
lantmast,  by  her  chequered  band,  and 
by  other  signs  clear  to  a  sailor's  eye, 
and  the  three  of  us  sent   up  a  shout 


a&\>cntiire5  of  Zbxec  Sallore    133 


of  delight,  for  it  was  like  stumbling 
upon  one's  very  home,  as  it  were, 
after  having  been  all  night  lost 
amidst  the  blackness  and  snow  of 
the  country  where  one's  house  stands. 
She  came  along  handsomely,  with 
foam  to  the  hawsepipe,  thanks  to  the 
freshening  breeze,  and  her  main 
royal  and  topgaJlantsail  clewing  up 
as  she  approached,  for  our  signal  had 
been  seen  ;  then  drove  close  along- 
side with  her  topsail  aback  and  in  a 
few  minutes  we  were  aboard,  shaking 
hands  with  Captain  Blow,  and  all 
others  who  extended  a  fist  to  us,  and 
spinning  our  yarn  in  response  to  the 
eager  questions  put. 

"  But  what  have  you  there,  Mr. 
Small  ? "  said  Captain  Blow,  staring 
at  the  two  craft  and  the  whale.  I 
explained.  "Well,"  cries  he,  "call 
me  a  missionary  if  ever  I  saw  such  a 
sight  as  that  afore  !  Have  ye  boarded 
the  vessel  ?  "  pointing  to  the  one  that 
was  whole. 

"Yes,"  said  I,  "but  there's  noth- 
ing but  shells  to  look  at." 

"  Hatches  open  ?  "  says  he. 

"  No,"  says  I,  "  they  are  as  securely 
cemented  with  shells  as  if  the  stuff 
had  been  laid  on  with  a  trowel." 

Jackson,  Fallows,  the  boatswain, 
and  a  few  of  the  darkeys  stood  near, 
eagerly  catching  what  we  said. 


134    BDvcntiu-es  of  (Tbrec  Sailors 

"  A  wonderful  sight  truly  !  "  said 
Captain  Blow,  surveying  the  object 
with  a  face  almost  distorted  with  as- 
tonishment and  admiration.  "  How 
many  years  will  they  have  been  asleep 
under  water,  think  ye,  Mr.  Small  ?  " 

"  All  a  hundred,  sir,"  said  I. 

"  Ay,"  says  he,  "  I  've  seen  many 
prints  of  old  ships,  and  I  '11  allow 
that  it  's  all  a  hundred,  as  you  say, 
since  she  and  the  likes  of  she  was 
afloat.  Why,"  cries  he  with  a  sort  of 
a  nervous  laugh  as  if  half  ashamed  of 
what  he  was  about  to  say,  "  who  's 
to  tell  but  that  there  may  be  a  chest 
or  two  of  treasure  stowed  away  down 
in  her  lazerette  ?  " 

"  That  very  idea  occurred  to  me, 
sir,"  says  I. 

"  By  your  pardon,  capt'n,"  here  in- 
terrupted Jackson,  knuckling  his  fore- 
head, "  but  that  may  be  a  question 
not  hard  to  settle  if  ye  '11  send  me 
aboard  with  a  few  tools." 

The  captain  looked  as  if  he  had 
had  a  mind  to  entertain  the  idea, 
then  sent  a  glance  to  windward. 

''  She  '11  be  full  of  water,"  said  I. 

"  Ay,"  said  the  captain,  turning  to 
Jackson,  "how  then?" 

"  We  can  but  lift  a  hatch  and  look 
out  for  ourselves,  sir,"  answered  the 
man. 

"Right,"  says   the  captain;    "but 


BOventurcs  ot  Zbvce  Sailors    135 

you  '11  have  to  bear  a  hand.  Get 
that  cask  on  board.  Any  water  in 
it  ?"  says  he. 

"Yes,  sir,"  says  I. 

"  Thank  God  for  the  same  then," 
says  he. 

But  whilst  they  -were  manoeuvring 
witli  the  cask  the  breeze  freshened  in 
a  sudden  squall,  and  all  in  a  minute, 
as  it  seemed,  a  sort  of  sloppy  sea  was 
set  a-running.  The  captain  looked 
anxious,  yet  still  seemed  willing  that 
the  boat  should  go  to  the  wreck.  I 
sent  some  Tascars  aloft  to  furl  the 
loose  canvas,  and  whilst  this  was 
doing,  the  wind  freshened  yet  in 
another  long-drawn  blast  that  swept 
in  a  shriek  betwixt  our  masts. 

"There's  nothing  to  be  done!" 
sung  out  the  skipper  ;  "  get  that  boat 
under  the  fall,  Jackson  ;  we  must 
hoist  her  up." 

The  darkeys  lay  aft  to  the  tackles, 
and  Jackson  climbed  over  the  rail 
with  a  countenance  sour  and  muti- 
nous with  disappointment.  He  had 
scarcely  sprung  on  to  the  deck,  when 
we  heard  a  loud  crash  like  the  report 
of  a  small  piece  of  ordnance,  and, 
looking  towards  the  hulks,  I  was  just 
in  time  to  see  them  sliding  off  the 
back  of  the  whale,  one  on  either  side 
of  the  greasy,  black  surface.  They 
vanished  in   a  breath,  and  the  dead 


136    BiJx'cnturcs  of  Cbrce  Sailors 

carcass,  relieved  of  their  weight, 
seemed  to  spring,  as  though  it  were 
alive,  some  ten  or  twelve  feet  out  of 
the  seething  and  simmering  surface 
which  had  been  frothed  up  by  the 
descent  of  the  vessels  ;  the  next  mo- 
ment it  turned  over  and  gave  us  a 
view  of  its  whole  length — a  sixty-  to 
seventy-foot  whale,  if  the  carcass  was 
an  inch,  with  here  and  there  the 
black  scythe-like  dorsal  fin  of  a  shark 
sailing  round  it. 

Jackson  hooked  a  quid  out  of  his 
mouth  and  sent  it  overboard.  His 
face  of  mutiny  left  him,  and  was 
replaced  by  an  expression  of  grati- 
tude. Five  minutes  later  the  old 
Hindoo  Merchajit  was  thrusting 
through  it  with  her  nose  heading  for 
the  river  Hooghley,  and  the  darkeys 
tying  a  single  reef  in  the  foretop- 
sail. 


The  Strange  Tragedy 

of  the  ''White 

Star!' 

IT  is  proper  I  should  state  at  once 
that  the  names  I  give  in  this  ex- 
traordinary experience  are  ficti- 
tious ;  the  date  of  the  tale  is  easily 
within  the   memory  of   the   middle- 
aged. 

The  large,  well-known  Australian 
liner  White  Star  lay  off  the  wool- 
sheds  in  Sydney  harbour  slowly  filling 
up  with  wool  ;  I  say  slowly,  for  the 
oxen  were  languid  up-country,  and 
the  stuff  came  in  as  Fox  is  said  to 
have  written  his  history — "  drop  by 
drop."  We  were,  however,  advertised 
to  sail  in  a  fortnight  from  the  day  I 
open  this  story  on,  and  there  was  no 
doubt  of  our  getting  away  by  then. 

I,  who  was  chief  officer  of  the  ves- 
sel, was  pacing  the  poop  under  the 
awning,  when  I  saw  a  lady  and  gentle- 
man approaching  the  vessel.  They 
spoke  to  the  mate  of  a  French  barque 
which  lay  just  ahead  of  us,  and  I 
137 


138    c:rageDB  of  tbe  "  XUbite  Star " 

concluded  that  their  business  was 
with  that  ship,  till  I  saw  the  French- 
man, with  a  flourish  of  his  hat,  motion 
towards  the  JVhite  Star,  whereupon 
they  advanced  and  stepped  on  board. 

I  went  on  to  the  quarter-deck  to 
receive  them.  The  gentleman  had 
the  air  of  a  military  man  :  short, 
erect  as  a  royal  mast,  with  plenty  of 
whiskers  and  moustache,  though  he 
wore  his  chin  cropped.  His  com- 
panion was  a  very  fine  young  woman 
of  about  six  and  twenty  years  ;  above 
the  average  height,  faultlessly  shaped, 
so  far  as  a  rude  seafaring  eye  is 
privileged  to  judge  of  such  matters  ; 
her  complexion  was  pale,  inclined  to 
sallow,  but  most  delicate,  of  a  trans- 
parency of  flesh  that  showed  the 
blood  eloquent  in  her  cheek,  coming 
and  going  with  every  mood  that  pos- 
sessed her.  She  wore  a  little  fall  of 
veil,  but  she  raised  it  when  her  com- 
panion handed  her  over  the  side  in 
order  to  look  round  and  aloft  at  the 
fabric  of  spar  and  shroud  towering 
on  high,  with  its  central  bunting  of 
house  flag  pulling  in  ripples  of  gold 
and  blue  from  the  royalmast  head  ; 
and  so  I  had  a  good  sight  of  her  face, 
and  particularly  of  her  eyes. 

I  never  remember  the  like  of  such 
eyes  in  a  woman.  To  describe  them 
as  neither  large  nor  small,  the  pupils 


Q;raficOB  of  tbc  "  TKIlbttc  Star  "    139 


of  the  liciuid  dusk  of  the  Indian's,  the 
eyelashes  long  enough  to  cast  a  silken 
shadow  of  tenderness  upon  the  whole 
expression  of  her  face  when  the  lids 
dropped — to  say  all  this  is  to  convey 
nothing ;  simply  because  their  ex- 
pression formed  the  wonder,  strange- 
ness, and  beauty  of  them,  and  there 
is  no  virtue  in  ink,  at  all  events  in 
my  ink,  to  communicate  it.  I  do  not 
exaggerate  when  I  assure  you  that 
the  surprise  of  the  beauty  of  her  eyes 
when  they  came  to  mine  and  rested 
upon  me,  steadfast  in  their  stare  as  a 
picture,  was  a  sort  of  shock  in  its 
way,  comparable  in  a  physical  sense 
to  one's  unexpected  handling  of 
something  slightly  electric.  For  the 
rest,  hef  hair  was  very  black  and 
abundant,  and  of  that  sort  of  dead- 
ness  of  hue  which  you  find  among  the 
people  of  Asia.  I  cannot  describe 
her  dress.  Enough  if  I  say  that  she 
was  in  mourning,  but  with  a  large 
admixture  of  white,  for  those  were 
the  hot  weeks  in  Sydney. 

"Is  the  captain  on  board.?"  in- 
quired the  gentleman. 

"  He  is  not,  sir." 

"When  do  you  expect  him  ?" 

"  Every  minute." 

"  May  we  stop  here  ? " 

"Certainly.  Will  you  walk  into 
the  cuddy  or  on  to  the  poop  ?" 


I40   ^ragcDg  of  tbe  "  Mbitc  Star  " 

"  Oh,  we  '11  keep  in  the  open,  we  '11 
keep  in  the  open,"  cried  the  gentle- 
man, with  the  impetuosity  of  a  man 
rendered  irritable  by  the  heat. 
"You'll  have  had  enough  of  the 
cuddy,  Miss  Le  Grand,  long  before 
you  reach  the  old  country." 

She  smiled.  I  liked  her  face  then. 
It  was  a  fine,  glad,  good-humoured 
smile,  and  humanised  her  wonderful 
eyes  just  as  though  you  clothed  a 
ghost  in  flesh,  making  the  spectre 
natural  and  commonplace. 

As  we  ascended  the  poop  ladder, 
the  gentleman  asked  me  who  I  was, 
quite  courteously,  though  his  whole 
manner  was  marked  by  a  quality  of 
military  abruptness.  When  he  un- 
derstood I  was  chief  officer  he 
exclaimed  : 

"Then  Miss  Le  Grand  permit  me 
to  introduce  Mr.  Tyler  to  you.  Miss 
Georgina  Le  Grand  is  going  home  in 
your  ship.  She  will  be  alone.  We 
have  placed  her  in  the  care  of  the 
captain." 

"Perhaps,"  said  Miss  Le  Grand 
with  another  of  her  fine  smiles,  "  I 
ought  to  introduce  you,  Mr.  Tyler,  to 
my  uncle,  Colonel  Atkinson. 

Again  I  pulled  off  my  cap,  and  the 
colonel  laughed  as  he  lifted  his  wide 
straw  hat.     I  guessed  he  laughed  at  a 


^rageDgof  tbe"imbiteStar"    141 

certain  naivete  in  the  girl's  way  of 
introducing  us. 

The  colonel  was  disposed  to  chat. 
Out  of  Kngland  Englishmen  are 
amongst  the  most  talkative  of  the 
human  race.  Likely  enough  he 
wanted  to  interest  me  in  Miss  Le 
Grand  because  of  my  situation  on 
board.  A  chief  mate  is  a  considerable 
figure.  If  any  mishap  incapacitates 
the  master,  the  chief  mate  takes 
charge.  We  walked  the  poop,  the 
three  of  us,  in  the  violet  shadow  cast 
by  the  awning  ;  the  colonel  constantly 
directed  his  eyes  along  the  quay  to 
observe  if  the  captain  was  coming. 
During  this  stroll  to  and  fro  the  white 
planks  I  got  these  particulars,  partly 
from  the  direct  assertions  of  the 
colonel,  partly  from  the  occasional 
remarks  of  the  girl. 

Colonel  Atkinson  had  married  her 
father's  sister.  Her  father  had  been 
an  officer  in  the  army,  and  had  sailed 
from  England  with  the  then  Governor 
of  New  South  Wales.  After  he  had 
been  in  Sydney  a  few  months  he  sent 
for  his  daughter,  whom  he  had  left 
behind  him  with  a  maternal  aunt,  her 
mother  having  died  some  years  be- 
fore. She  reached  Sydney  to  find 
her  father  dead.  His  Excellency  was 
very  kind  to  her,  and  she  found  very 


142    (TrageDg  of  tbc  "  TlClbltc  Star  ♦♦ 

many  sympathetic  friends,  but  her 
home  was  in  England,  and  to  it  she 
was  returning  in  the  White  Star, 
under  the  care  of  the  master,  Captain 
Edward  Griffiths,  after  a  stay  of  nearly 
five  months  in  Sydney  with  her  uncle, 
Colonel  Atkinson. 

Half  an  hour  passed  before  the 
captain  arrived.  When  he  stepped 
on  board  I  lifted  my  cap  and  left  the 
poop,  and  the  captain  and  the  others 
went  into  the  cuddy. 

Our  day  of  departure  came  round, 
and  not  a  little  rejoiced  was  I  when 
the  tug  had  fairly  got  hold  of  us,  and 
we  were  floating  over  the  sheet-calm 
surface  of  Sydney  Bay,  past  some  of 
the  loveliest  bits  of  scenery  the  world 
has  to  offer,  on  our  road  to  the 
mighty  ocean  beyond  the  grim  portals 
of  Sydney  Heads.  We  were  a  fairly 
crowded  ship,  what  with  Jacks  and 
passengers.  The  steerage  and  'tween- 
decks  were  full  up  with  people  going 
home ;  in  the  cuddy  some  of  the 
cabins  remained  unlet.  We  mustered 
in  all,  I  think,  about  twelve  gentlemen 
and  lady  passengers,  one  of  whom, 
needless  to  say,  was  Miss  Georgina 
Le  Grand. 

I  had  been  busy  on  the  forecastle 
when  she  came  aboard,  but  heard 
afterwards  from  Robson,  the  second 
mate,  that  the  Governor's  wife,  with 


CTragcDg  of  tbc  **  Mbite  Star "    143 

Colonel  Atkinson,  and  certain  nobs 
out  of  Government  House  had  driven 
down  to  the  ship  to  say  good-bye  to 
the  girl.  She  was  alone.  I  wondered 
slie  had  not  a  maid,  but  I  afterwards 
heard  from  a  bright  little  lady  on  board, 
a  Mrs.  Burney,  one  of  the  wickedest 
flirts  that  ever  with  a  flash  of  dark 
glance  drew  a  sigh  from  a  man,  that 
the  woman  Miss  Le  Grand  had  en- 
gaged to  accompany  her  as  maid  to 
Europe  had  omitted  to  put  in  an 
appearance  at  the  last  moment,  in 
perfect  conformity  with  the  manners 
and  habits  of  the  domestic  servants 
of  the  Australian  colonies  of  those 
days,  and  the  young  lady  having  no 
time  to  procure  another  maid  had 
shipped  alone. 

At  dinner  on  that  first  day  of  our 
departure,  when  the  ship  was  at  sea 
and  I  was  stumping  the  deck  in 
charge,  I  observed,  in  glancing 
through  the  skylight,  that  the  captain 
had  put  Miss  Le  Grand  upon  the 
right  of  his  chair,  at  the  head  of  the 
table,  a  little  before  the  fluted  and 
emblazoned  shaft  of  mizzenmast.  I 
don't  think  above  five  sat  down  to 
dinner;  a  long  heave  of  swell  had 
sickened  the  hunger  out  of  most  of 
them.  But  it  was  a  glorious  evening, 
and  the  red  sunshine,  flashing  fair 
upon  the  wide  open  skylights,  dazzled 


144    trragc5s  of  tbe  "  Mbitc  Star  ♦♦ 


out  as  brilliant  and  hospitable  a  pic- 
ture of  cabin  equipment  as  the  sight 
could  wish. 

I  had  a  full  view  of  Miss  Le  Grand, 
and  occasionally  paused  to  look  at 
her,  so  standing  as  to  be  unobserved. 
Now  that  I  saw  her  with  her  hat  off  I 
found  something  very  peculiar  and 
fascinating  in  her  beauty.  Her  eyes 
seemed  to  fill  her  face,  subduing 
every  lineament  to  the  full  spiritual 
light  and  meaning  in  them,  till  her 
countenance  looked  sheer  intellect, 
the  very  quality  and  spirit  of  mind 
itself.  This  effect,  I  think,  was  largely 
achieved  by  the  uncommon  hue  of 
her  skin.  It  accentuated  colour,  cast- 
ing a  deeper  dye  into  the  blackness 
of  her  hair,  sharpening  the  fires  in 
her  eyes,  painting  her  lij^s  with  a 
more  fiery  tinge  of  carnation  through 
which,  when  she  smiled,  her  white 
teeth  shone  like  light  itself. 

I  noticed  even  on  this  first  day, 
dtiring  my  cautious  occasional  peeps, 
that  the  captain  was  particularly  at- 
tentive to  the  young  lady  ;  in  which, 
indeed,  I  should  have  found  nothing 
significant — for  she  had  in  a  special 
degree  been  committed  to  his  trust — 
but  for  the  circumstance  of  his  being 
a  bachelor.  Even  then,  early  and 
fresh  as  the  time  was  for  thinking  of 
such  things,  I  guessed  when  I  looked 


JTrageDg  ot  tbc  "  Mbitc  Star  "    145 

at  the  girl  that  the  hardy  mariner 
alongside  of  her  would  not  keep  his 
heart  whole  a  week,  if  indeed,  for  the 
matter  of  that,  he  was  not  already 
head  over  ears.  He  was  a  good-look- 
ing man  in  his  way  ;  not  everybody's 
type  of  manly  beauty,  perhaps,  but 
certain  of  admiration  from  those  who 
relish  a  strong  sea  flavour  and  the 
colour  of  many  years  and  countless 
leagues  of  ocean  in  looks,  speech,  and 
deportment.  He  was  about  thirty- 
five,  the  heartiest  laugher  that  ever 
strained  a  rib  in  merriment,  a  genial, 
kindly  man,  with  a  keen,  seawardly 
blue  eye,  weather-coloured  face,  short 
whiskers,  and  rising  in  his  socks  to 
near  six  feet.  I  believe  he  was  of 
Welsh  blood.  This  was  my  first 
voyage  with  him.  The  rigorous  dis- 
cipline of  the  quarter-deck  had  held 
us  apart,  and  all  that  I  could  have 
told  of  him  I  have  here  written. 

For  some  time  after  we  left  Sydney 
nothing  whatever  noteworthy  hap- 
pened. One  quiet  evening  I  came 
on  deck  at  eight  o'clock  to  take 
charge  of  the  ship  till  midnight.  We 
were  still  in  the  temperate  parallels, 
the  weather  of  a  true  Pacific  sweet- 
ness, and,  by  day,  the  ocean  a  dark 
blue  rolling  breast  of  water,  feather- 
ing on  every  round  of  swell  in  sea- 
flashes,  out  of  which  would  sparkle 


146    tTrageSg  Of  tbe  "  "Mbite  Star " 

the  flying-fish  to  sail  down  the  bright 
mild  wind  for  a  space,  then  vanish  in 
some  brow  of  brine  with  the  flight  of 
a  silver  arrow. 

This  night  the  moon  was  dark,  the 
weather  somewhat  thick,  the  stars 
pale  over  the  trucks,  and  hidden  in 
the  obscurity  a  little  way  down  the 
dusky  slope  of  firmament.  Windsails 
were  wriggling  fore  and  aft  like  huge 
white  snakes,  gaping  for  the  tops  and 
writhing  out  of  the  hatches.  The 
flush  of  sunset  was  dying  when  I 
came  on  deck.  I  saw  the  captain 
slowly  pacing  the  weather  side  of  the 
poop  with  Miss  Le  Grand.  He 
seemed  earnest  in  his  talk  and  ges- 
tures. Enough  western  light  still 
lived  to  enable  me  to  see  faces,  and 
I  observed  that  Mrs.  Burney,  stand- 
ing to  leeward  of  a  skylight  talking 
with  a  gentleman,  would  glance  at  the 
couple  with  a  satirical  smile  whenever 
they  came  abreast  of  her. 

But  soon  the  night  came  down  in 
darkness  upon  the  deep  ;  the  wind 
blew  damp  out  of  the  dusk  in  a  long 
moan  over  the  rail,  heeling  the  ship 
yet  by  a  couple  of  degrees  ;  the  cap- 
tain sang  out  for  the  fore-  and  miz- 
zen-royals  to  be  clewed  up  and 
furled,  and  shortly  afterwards  went 
below,  first  handing  Miss  Le  Grand 
down  the  companion-way. 


CraiieDB  of  tbc '"Cdbite  star "    147 

I  guessed  the  game  was  up  with 
the  worthy  man  :  he  had  met  his  fate 
and  tiken  to  it  with  the  meekness  of 
a  sheep.  He  might  do  worse,  I 
thought,  as  .1  started  on  a  solitary 
stroll,  so  far  as  looks  are  concerned  ; 
but  what  of  her  nature — her  char- 
acter ?  It  was  puzzling  to  think  of 
what  sort  of  spirit  it  was  that  looked 
out  of  her  wonderful  eyes  ;  and  she 
was  not  a  kind  of  a  girl  that  a  man 
would  care  to  leave  ashore  ;  so  much 
beauty,  full  of  a  subtle  endevilment  of 
some  sort,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  must 
needs  demand  the  constant  sentinel- 
ling of  a  husband's  presence.  That 
was  how  it  struck  me. 

By  eleven  o'clock  all  was  hushed 
throughout  the  ship  :  lights  out,  the 
captain  turned  in,  nothing  stirring 
forward  save  the  flitting  shape  of  the 
look-out  under  the  yawn  of  the  pale 
square  of  fore-course.  It  was  blow- 
ing a  pleasant  breeze  of  wind,  and 
lost  in  thought  I  leaned  over  the  rail 
at  the  weather  fore-end  of  the  poop 
watching  the  cold  sea-glow  shining  in 
the  dark  water  as  the  foam  spat  past, 
sheeting  away  astern  in  a  furrow  like 
moonlight.  I  will  swear  I  did  not 
doze  ;  that  I  never  was  guilty  of 
whilst  on  duty  in  all  the  years  I  was 
at  sea  ;  but  I  don't  doubt  that  I  was 
sunk  deep  in  thought,  insomuch  that 


148    UrageDs  of  tbe  **  mbite  Star  ** 

my  reverie  may  have  possessed  a 
temporary  power  of  abstraction  as 
complete  as  slumber  itself. 

I  was  startled  into  violent  w^akeful- 
ness  by  a  cannonade  of  canvas  aloft, 
and  found  the  ship  in  the  wind.  1 
looked  aft  ;  the  wheel  was  deserted 
— at  least  I  believed  so,  till  on  rush- 
ing to  it,  meanwhile  shouting  to  the 
watch  on  deck,  I  spied  the  figure  of 
the  helmsman  on  his  face  close  beside 
the  binnacle. 

I  thought  he  was  dead.  The  watch 
to  my  shouts  came  tumbling  to  the 
braces,  and  in  a  few  minutes  the  cap- 
tain made  his  appearance.  The  ship 
was  got  to  her  course  afresh,  by  which 
time  the  man  who  had  been  steering 
was  so  far  recovered  as  to  be  able  to 
sit  on  the  grating  abaft  the  wheel  and 
relate  what  had  happened. 

He  was  a  Dane,  and  spoke  with  a 
strong  foreign  accent,  beyond  my  art 
to  reproduce.  He  said  he  had  been 
looking  away  to  leeward,  believing  he 
saw  a  light  out  upon  the  horizon, 
when  on  turning  his  head  he  beheld 
a  ghost  at  his  side. 

"  A  what  ? "  said  the  captain. 

"  A  ghost,  sir,  so  help  me — "  and 
here  the  little  Dane  indulged  in  some 
very  violent  language,  all  designed  to 
convince  us  that  he  spoke  the  truth. 


CraaeDg  of  tbc  "  'CUbltc  Star "    149 

"What  was  it  like?"  asked  the 
captain. 

"  It  was  dressed  in  white  and  stood 
looking  at  me.  I  tried  to  run  and 
could  not,  but  fell,  and  maybe 
fainted." 

"  The  durned  idiot  slept,"  said  the 
captain  to  me,  "  and  dreamt,  and 
dropped  on  his  nut." 

"  Had  I  dropped  on  my  nut,  should 
not  have  woke  up  then  ?"  cried  the 
Dane,  in  a  passion  of  candour. 

"  Go  forward  and  turn  in,"  said 
the  captain.  "  The  doctor  shall  see 
you  and  report  to  me." 

When  the  man  was  gone  the  cap- 
tain asked  me  if  I  had  seen  anything 
likely  to  produce  the  impression  of  a 
ghost  on  an  ignorant,  credulous  man's 
mind  ?  I  answered  no,  wondering 
that  he  should  ask  such  a  question. 

"  How  long  was  the  man  in  a  fit, 
d'  ye  think  ?  "  said  he,  "  that  is,  before 
you  found  out  that  the  wheel  was 
deserted  ?" 

"  Three  or  four  minutes." 

He  looked  into  the  binnacle,  took 
a  turn  about  the  decks,  and,  without 
saying  anything  more  about  the 
ghost,  went  below. 

The  doctor  next  day  reported  that 
the  Dane  was  perfectly  well,  and  of 
sound  mind,  and  that  he  stuck  with 


I50    ^rage&KOf  tbe^XUbitcStar" 

many  imprecations  to  his  story.  He 
described  the  ghost  as  a  figure  in 
white  that  looked  at  him  with  spark- 
ling eyes,  and  yet  blindly.  He  was 
unable  to  describe  the  features. 
Fright,  no  doubt,  stood  in  the  way  of 
perception.  He  could  not  imagine 
where  the  thing  had  come  from.  He 
was,  as  he  had  said,  gazing  at  what 
looked  like  a  spark  or  star  to  leeward, 
when  turning  his  head  he  found  the 
Shape  close  beside  him. 

The  captain  and  the  doctor  talked 
the  thing  over  in  my  presence,  and 
we  decided  to  consider  it  a  delusion 
on  the  part  of  the  Dane,  a  phantom 
of  his  imagination,  mainly  because 
the  man  swooned  after  he  saw  the 
thing,  letting  go  the  wheel  so  that 
the  ship  came  up  into  the  wind, 
and  it  was  impossible  to  conceive 
that  a  substantial  object  could  have 
vanished  in  the  time  that  elapsed  be- 
tween the  man  falling  down  and  the 
flap  of  sails  which  had  called  my  at- 
tention to  the  abandoned  helm. 

However,  nothing  was  said  about 
the  matter  aft  :  the  sailors  adopted 
the  doctor's  opinion,  some  viewing 
the  thing  as  a  "  Dutchman's  "  dodge 
to  get  a  "night  in." 

A  few  days  later  brought  us  into 
cold  weather  :  this  was  followed  by 
the  ice    and    conflicts  of   the  Horn. 


CragcDg  of  tbc  "  XUbite  Star  "    151 

We  drove  too  far  south,  and  for  a 
week  every  afternoon  we  hove-to 
under  a  close-reefed  maintopsail  for 
fear  of  the  ice  throughout  the  long 
hours  of  Antarctic  blackness.  We 
were  in  no  temper  to  think  of  ghosts, 
and  yet  though  no  one  had  delivered 
the  news  authoritatively,  it  had  come 
by  this  wild  bleak  time  to  be  known 
that  Captain  Griffiths  and  Miss  Le 
Grand  were  engaged.  Mrs.  Burney 
told  me  so  one  day  in  the  cuddy, 
and  with  a  wicked  flash  of  her  dark 
eye  wondered  that  people  could  think 
of  making  love  with  icebergs  close  at 
hand. 

It  was  no  business  of  mine,  and 
seemingly  I  gave  the  matter  no  heed, 
though  I  could  find  leisure  and  curi- 
osity sometimes  for  an  askant  glance 
at  the  captain  and  his  beauty  when 
they  were  at  table  or  when  the  weath- 
er permitted  the  lady  to  come  on 
deck,  and  their  behaviour  left  me  in 
very  little  doubt  that  he  was  deeply 
in  love  with  her  ;  but  whether  she 
was  equally  enamoured  of  him  I 
could  not  guess. 

We  beat  clear  of  the  latitude  of 
roaring  gales  blind  with  snow,  and 
mountainous  ice-islands  like  cities  of 
alabaster  in  ruins,  and  seas  ridging  in 
thunder  and  foam  to  the  height  of 
our  mizzentop,   and  heading    north 


152    Xlrage&s  of  tbe  "  IClbtte  Star " 

blew  under  wide  wings  of  studding 
sails  towards  the  sun,  every  day  sink- 
ing some  southern  stars  out  of  sight, 
and  every  night  lifting  above  the  sea- 
line  some  gem  of  the  heavens  dear  to 
northern  eyes. 

I  went  below  at  eight  bells  on  a 
Friday  morning  when  we  were  two 
months  "out"  from  Sydney,  as  I 
very  well  remember.  The  ship  had 
then  caught  the  first  of  the  south-east 
trade-wind.  All  was  well  when  I  left 
the  deck.  I  was  awakened  by  a  hard 
violently  shaking  my  shoulder.  I 
sprang  up  and  found  Robson,  the 
second  mate,  standing  beside  my 
bunk.  He  was  pale  as  the  ghost  the 
Dane  had  described. 

"There  's  been  murder  done,  sir," 
he  cried.     "  The  captain  's  killed." 

I  stared  at  him  like  a  fool,  and 
echoed  mechanically  and  dully  : 
"Murder  done!  Captain  killed!" 
Then  collecting  my  wits  I  tumbled 
into  my  clothes  and  rushed  to  the 
captain's  cabin,  where  I  found  the 
doctor  and  the  third  mate  examining 
poor  Grififith's  body.  It  was  half- 
past-six  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and 
the  daylight  strong,  but  none  of  the 
passengers  were  moving.  The  cap- 
tain had  been  stabbed  to  the  heart. 
The  doctor  said  he  had  been  killed 
by  a  single  thrust.     The    body  was 


^rageDg  of  tbe  "  IHlblte  Star  "    153 


clothed  in  white  drill  trousers  and  a 
white  linen  shirt,  which  was  slightly- 
stained  with  blood  where  the  knife 
had  pierced  it. 

Who  had  done  this  thing?  It 
was  horrible,  unprovoked  murder ! 
throughout  the  ship  the  captain  had 
been  the  most  popular  man  on 
board.  The  forecastle  liking  for  him 
was  as  strong  as  sentiment  of  any 
sort  can  find  ex|)ression  in  that  part 
of  a  vessel.  There  had  never  been  a 
murmur.  Indeed  I  had  never  sailed 
with  a  better  crew.  Not  a  man  had 
deserted  us  at  Sydney  and  of  the 
hands  on  board  at  least  half  had 
sailed  with  the  captain  before. 

We  carefully  searched  the  cabin,  but 
there  was  nothing  whatever  to  tell  us 
that  robbery  had  been  committed. 
However,  a  ghastly,  shocking  murder 
had  been  perpetrated  ;  the  man  on 
whose  skill  and  judgment  had  de- 
pended the  safety  of  the  ship  and  the 
many  lives  within  her  had  been  foully 
done  to  death  in  his  sleep  by  some 
mysterious  hand,  and  we  determined 
at  once  upon  a  course. 

First,  I  sent  for  some  of  the  best  and 
most  trustworthy  seamen  amongst 
the  crew,  and  bringing  them  into  the 
captain's  cabin,  showed  them  the 
body.  I  then,  in  my  capacity  as 
commander  of  the  vessel,  authorised 


154    ^ragcOg  of  tbc  "  llUbitc  Star " 

them  to  act  as  a  sort  of  detectives  or 
policemen,  and  to  search  every  part 
of  the  ship  and  all  the  berths  in  the 
steerage  and  'tween-decks  for  any 
clue  to  the  doer  of  the  deed.  It  was 
arranged  that  the  cabins  of  the  first- 
class  passengers  should  be  thoroughly 
overhauled  by  the  second  and  third 
mates. 

All  this  brought  us  to  the  hour 
when  the  passengers  arose,  and  the 
ship  was  presently  alive.  The  news 
swept  from  lip  to  lip  magically  ;  in  all 
parts  of  the  ship  I  saw  men  and 
women  talking,  with  their  faces  pale 
with  consternation  and  horror.  T 
had  not  the  courage  to  break  the 
news  to  Miss  Le  Grand,  and  asked 
the  doctor,  a  quiet,  gentlemanly  man, 
to  speak  to  her.  I  was  on  the  poop 
looking  after  the  ship  when  the 
doctor  came  from  the  young  lady's 
berth. 

"  How  did  she  receive  the  news  ?  " 
said  I. 

"  I  wish  it  may  not  break  her 
heart,"  said  he,  gravely.  "  She  was 
turned  into  stone.  Her  stare  of 
grief  was  dreadful — not  the  greatest 
actress  could  imagine  such  a  look. 
There  '11  be  no  comforting  her  this 
side  of  England." 

"  Doctor,  could  he  have  done  it 
himself  ?  " 


cTragc^B  of  tbe  "  Mbitc  Star "    155 

"  Oh,  heaven,  no,  sir  !  "  and  he  ex- 
plained, by  recalling  the  posture  of 
the  body  and  the  situation  of  the 
hands,  not  to  mention  the  absence  of 
the  weai)on,  why  it  was  impossible 
the  captain  should  have  killed  him- 
self. 

I  don't  know  how  it  came  about  ; 
but  whilst  I  paced  the  deck  waiting 
for  the  reports  of  the  mates  and  the 
seamen  and  the  passengers  who  were 
helping  me  in  the  search,  it  entered 
my  head  to  mix  up  with  this  murder 
the  spectre,  or  ghost,  that  had  fright- 
ened the  Dane  at  the  wheel  into  a  fit, 
along  with  the  memory  of  a  sort  of 
quarrel  which  I  guessed  had  hap- 
pened between  Captain  Griffiths  and 
Miss  Le  Grand.  It  was  a  mere  mud- 
dle of  fancies  at  best,  and  yet  they 
took  a  hold  of  my  imagination.  I 
think  it  was  about  a  week  before 
this  murder  that  I  had  observed  the 
coolness  of  what  you  might  call  a 
lovers'  quarrel  betwixt  the  captain 
and  his  young  lady,  and  without  tak- 
ing any  further  notice  of  it  I  quietly 
set  the  cause  down  to  Mrs.  Burney, 
who,  as  a  thorough-paced  flirt,  with 
fine  languishing  black  eyes,  and  a 
saucy  tongue,  had  often  done  her 
best  to  engage  the  skipper  in  one  of 
those  little  asides  which  are  as  brim- 
stone and  the  undying  worm  to  the 


156    irrage^B  Of  tbc  "  "Wabite  Star " 

jealous  of  either  sex.  The  lovers 
had  made  it  up  soon  after,  and  for 
two  or  three  days  previously  had 
been  as  thick  and  lover-like  as  sweet- 
hearts ought  to  be. 

But  what  had  the  ghost  that  had 
affrighted  the  Dane  to  do  with  this 
murder  ?  And  how  were  Mrs.  Bur- 
ney's  blandishments,  and  the  short- 
lived quarrel  betwixt  the  lovers  to 
be  associated  with  it  ?  Nevertheless, 
these  matters  ran  in  my  head  as  I 
walked  the  deck  on  the  morning  of 
that  crime,  and  I  thought  and  thought, 
scarce  knowing,  however,  in  what  di- 
rection imagination  was  heading. 

The  two  mates,  the  seamen,  and 
the  passengers  arrived  with  their  re- 
ports. They  had  nothing  to  tell. 
The  steward  and  the  stewardess  had 
searched  with  the  two  mates  in  the 
saloon  or  cuddy.  Every  cabin  had 
been  ransacked,  with  the  willing  con- 
sent of  its  occupants.  The  forecastle, 
and  'tween-decks,  and  steerage,  and 
lazarette  had  been  minutely  over- 
hauled. Every  accessible  part  of  the 
bowels  of  the  ship  had  been  visited  ; 
to  no  purpose.  No  stowaway  of  any 
sort,  no  rag  of  evidence,  or  weapon 
to  supply  a  clue  was  discovered. 

That  afternoon  we  buried  the  body 
and  I  took  command  of  the  ship. 

I  saw  nothing  of  Miss  Le  Grand 


Q:raflebg  ot  tbe  "  Mbite  star  "    157 


for  two  days.  She  kept  her  cabin, 
and  was  seen  only  by  the  stewardess, 
who  waited  upon  her.  At  the  expi- 
ration of  that  time  I  received  a  mes- 
sage, and  went  at  once  to  her  berth. 
I  never  could  have  figured  so  striking 
a  change  in  a  fine  woman  full  of 
beauty  in  so  short  a  time,  as  I  now 
beheld.  The  fire  had  died  out  of  her 
eyes,  and  still  there  lurked  something 
weird  in  the  very  spiritlessness,  and 
dull  and  vacant  sadness  of  her  gaze. 
Her  cheeks  were  hollow.  Under 
each  eye  rested  a  shadow  as  though 
it  was  cast  by  a  green  leaf. 

Her  first  words  were  :  "  Cannot 
you  find  out  who  did  it  ?  " 

''  No,  madam.  We  have  tried  hard  ; 
harder  for  the  captain's  sake  than 
had  he  been  another,  for  the  respon- 
sibility that  rests  upon  the  master  of 
an  (  cean-going  vessel  makes  him  an 
object  of  mighty  significance,  believe 
me,  to  us  sailors." 

"  But  the  person  who  killed  him 
must  be  in  the  ship,"  she  cried,  in  a 
voice  that  wanted  much  of  its  old 
clear  music. 

"  One  should  suppose  so  ;  and  he 
is  undoubtedly  on  board  the  ship  ; 
but  we  can't  find  him." 

"  Did  he  commit  suicide  ?  " 

"  No.  Everybody  is  accounted 
for." 


158    ^cageOgof  tbe  ""UabiteStac" 

"  What  motive,"  she  exclaimed, 
with  a  sudden  burst  of  desperate  pas- 
sionate grief,  that  wrung  her  like  a 
fit  from  head  to  foot,  "  could  any  one 
have  for  killing  Captain  Griffiths  ? 
He  was  the  gentlest,  the  kindest — oh, 
my  heart  !  my  heart !  "  and,  hiding  her 
face,  she  rocked  herself  in  her  misery. 

I  tried  my  rough,  seafaring  best  to 
soothe  her.  Certainly,  until  this  mo- 
ment I  never  could  have  supposed 
her  love  for  the  poor  man  was  so 
great. 

The  fear  bred  of  this  mysterious 
assassination  lay  in  a  dark  and  heavy 
shadow  upon  the  ship.  None  of  us, 
passengers  or  sailors,  turned  in  of  a 
night  but  with  a  fear  of  the  secret 
bloody  hand  that  had  slain  the  cap- 
tain making  its  presence  tragically 
known  once  more  before  the  morning. 

It  happened  one  midnight,  when 
we  were  something  north  of  the  equa- 
tor, in  the  calms  and  stinging  heat  of 
the  inter-tropic  latitudes,  that,  having 
come  on  deck  to  relieve  the  second 
mate,  and  take  charge  of  the  ship  till 
four  o'clock,  I  felt  thirsty,  and  re- 
turned to  the  cuddy  for  a  drink  of 
water.  Of  the  three  lamps  only  one 
was  alight,  and  burnt  very  dimly. 
There  was  no  moonlight,  but  a  plenty 
of  starshine,  which  showered  in  a  very 
rippling  of  spangled   silver    through 


^ragcOgof  tbc  ""Ullbite  star"    159 


the  yawning   casements    of  the  sky- 
lights. 

Just  as  I  returned  the  tumbler  to 
the  rack  whence  1  had  removed  it, 
the  door  of  Miss  Le  Grand's  cabin 
was  opened,  and  the  girl  stepped 
forth.  She  was  arrayed  in  white  ; 
probably  she  was  attired  in  her  bed- 
clothes. She  seemed  to  see  me  at 
once,  for  she  emerged  directly  oppo- 
site ;  atid  I  thought  she  would  speak, 
or  hastily  retire.  But,  after  appear- 
ing to  stare  for  a  little  while,  she 
came  to  the  table  and  leaned  upon  it 
with  her  left  hand,  sighing  several 
times  in  the  most  heart-broken  man- 
ner ;  and  now  I  saw  by  the  help  of 
the  di:n  lam;  light  that  her  right  hand 
grasped  a  knife — the  gleam  of  the 
blade  caught  my  eye  in  a  breath  ! 

"  Good  gracious  !  "  I  cried  to  my- 
self, instantly,  "  the  woman  's  asleep  ! 
This,  then,  is  the  ghost  that  fright- 
ened the  Dane.  And  this,  too,  was 
the  hand  that  murdered  the  cap- 
tain !  " 

I  stood  motionless  watching  her. 
Presently,  taking  her  hand  off  the 
table,  she  turned  her  face  aft,  and 
with  a  wonderfully  subtle,  stealthy, 
sneaking  gait,  reminding  one  strangely 
of  the  folding  motion  of  the  snake, 
she  made  for  the  captain's  cabin. 

Now,  that  cabin,  ever  since  Grif- 


i6o    ^ragcDB  of  tbe  '*  Ulbite  Star  " 

fith's  death,  I  had  occupied,  and  you 
may  guess  the  sensations  with  which 
I  followed  the  armed  and  murderous 
sleep-walker  as  she  glided  to  what  I 
must  call  my  berth,  and  noiselessly 
opened  the  door  of  it.  The  moment 
she  was  in  the  cabin  her  motions 
grew  amazingly  swift.  She  stepped 
to  the  side  of  the  bunk  I  was  in  the 
habit  of  using,  and  lifting  the  knife 
plunged  it  once,  deep  and  hard — then 
came  away,  so  nimbly  that  it  was  with 
difficulty  I  made  room  for  her  in  the 
doorway  to  pass.  I  heard  her  breathe 
hard  and  fast  as  she  swept  by,  and  I 
stood  in  the  doorway  of  my  cabin 
watching  her  till  her  figure  disap- 
peared in  her  own  berth. 

So,  then,  the  mystery  was  at  an  end. 
Poor  Captain  Griffith's  murderess  was 
his  adored  sweetheart  !  She  had 
killed  him  in  her  sleep,  and  knew  it 
not.  In  the  blindness  of  slumber  she 
had  repeated  the  enormous  tragedy,  as 
sinless  nevertheless  as  the  angel  who 
looked  down  and  beheld  her  and 
pitied  her  ! 

I  went  on  deck  and  sent  for  the 
doctor,  to  whom  I  communicated 
what  I  had  seen,  and  he  at  once  re- 
paired to  Miss  Le  Grand's  berth  ac- 
companied by  the  stewardess,  and 
found  her  peacefully  resting  in  her 
bunk.       No   knife   was   to    be    seen. 


tTragcC^B  of  tbc  "  Mbite  Star "    i6i 


However,  next  morning,  the  young 
lady  being  then  on  deck,  veiled 
as  she  always  now  went,  and  sitting 
in  a  retired  part  of  the  poop,  the 
second  mate,  the  doctor,  and  the 
stewardess  again  thoroughly  searched 
Miss  Le  Grand's  berth,  and  they 
found  in  a  hollow  in  the  ship's  side, 
a  sort  of  scupper  in  fact  for  the  port- 
hole, a  carving  knife,  rusted  with  old 
st'.iins  of  blood.  It  had  belonged  to 
the  ship,  and  it  was  a  knife  the  stew- 
ard had  missed  on  the  day  the  cap- 
tain was  killed. 

Since  the  whole  ghastly  tragedy 
was  a  matter  of  somnambulism,  all 
jioints  of  it  were  easily  fitted  by  the 
doctor,  who  quickly  understood  that 
the  knife  had  been  taken  by  the  poor 
girl  in  her  sleep  just  as  it  had  been 
murderously  used.  What  horrible 
demon  governed  her  in  her  slumber, 
who  shall  tell  ?  For  my  part  I  put  it 
down  to  Mrs.  Burney  and  a  secret 
feeling  of  jealousy  which  had  oper- 
ated in  the  poor  soul  when  sense  was 
suspended  in  her  by  slumber. 

We  tried  to  keep  the  thing  secret, 
taking  care  to  lock  Miss  Le  Grand 
up  every  night  without  explaining 
our  motive  ;  but  the  passengers  got 
wind  of  the  truth  and  shrunk  from 
her  with  horror.  It  came,  in  fact,  to 
their  waiting  upon  me  in   a  body  and 


i62    ^rage&gof  tbe  "XXnbitc  star" 

insisting  upon  my  immuring  her  in 
the  steerage  in  company  with  one  of 
the  'tween-deck's  passengers,  a  fe- 
male who  had  offered  her  services  as 
a  nurse  for  hire.  This  action  led  to 
the  poor  girl  herself  finding  out  what 
had  happened.  God  knows  who  told 
her  or  how  she  managed  to  discover 
it  ;  but  't  is  certain  she  got  to  learn 
it  was  her  hand  that  in  sleep  had 
killed  her  lover,  and  she  went  mad 
the  selfsame  day  of  her  understanding 
what  she  had  done. 

Nor  did  she  ever  recover  her  mind. 
She  was  landed  mad,  and  sent  at  once 
to  an  asylum,  where  she  died,  God 
rest  her  poor  soul  !  exactly  a  year 
after  the  murder,  passing  away,  in 
fact,  at  tlie  very  hour  tlie  deed  was 
done,  as  I  afterwards  heard. 


The  Ship  Seen  oil  the 
Ice. 


IN  the  middle  of  April,  in  the  year 
1855,  the  three-masted  schooner 
Lightning  sailed  from  the  Mersey 
for  Boston  with  a  small  general  cargo 
of  English  manufactured  goods. 
She  was  commanded  by  a  man  named 
Thomas  Funnel.  The  mate,  Sala- 
mon  Sweers,  was  of  Dutch  extrac- 
tion, and  his  broad-beamed  face  was 
as  Dutch  to  the  eye  as  was  the  sound 
of  his  name  to  the  ear.  Yet  he 
spoke  English  with  as  good  an  ac- 
cent as  ever  one  could  hear  in  the 
mouth  of  an  Englishman  ;  and,  in- 
deed, I  pay  Salamon  Sweers  no  com- 
pliment by  saying  this,  for  he  em- 
ployed his  lis  correctly,  and  the 
grammar  of  his  sentences  was  fairly 
good,  albeit  salt  :  and  how  many 
Englishmen  are  there  who  correctly 
employ  the  letter  /;,  and  whose  gram- 
mar is  fairly  good,  salt  or  no  salt? 

We  carried  four  forecastle  hands 
and   three   apprentices.     There  was 
163 


if'4     Cbc  Sbip  Seen  on  tbe  Hcc 

Charles  Petersen,  a  Swede,  who  had 
once  been  "  fancy  man "  in  a  toy 
shop  ;  there  was  David  Burton,  who 
had  been  a  hairdresser  and  proved 
unfortunate  as  a  gold-digger  in  Aus- 
tralia ;  there  was  James  Lussoni,  an 
Italian,  who  claimed  to  be  a  descend- 
ant of  the  old  Genoese  merchants  ; 
and  there  was  John  Jones,  a  runaway 
man-of-warsinan,  pretty  nearly  worn 
out,  and  subject  to  apoplexy. 

Four  sailors  and  three  apprentices 
make  seven  men,  a  cook  and  a  boy 
are  nine,  and  a  mate  and  a  captain 
make  eleven  ;  and  eleven  of  a  crew 
were  we,  all  told,  men  and  boy,  aboard 
the  three-masted  schooner  Lightning 
when  we  sailed  away  one  April  morn- 
ing out  of  the  river  Mersey,  bound  to 
Boston,  North  America. 

My  name  was  then  as  it  still  is — 
for  during  the  many  years  I  have 
used  the  sea,  never  had  I  occasion  to 
ship  with  a  "purser's  name" — my 
name,  I  say,  is  David  Kerry,  and  in 
that  year  of  God  1855  I  was  a  strap- 
ping young  fellow,  seventeen  years 
old,  making  a  second  voyage  with 
Captain  Funnel,  having  been  bound 
apprentice  to  tiiat  most  excellent  but 
long-departed  mariner  by  my  par- 
ents, who,  finding  me  resolved  to  go 
to  sea  had  determined  that  my  pro- 
bation should  be  thorough  :  no  half- 


XLbc  Sblp  Seen  on  tbe  Hce     165 


laughs  and  i)ursers'  grins  would 
satisfy  tliem  ;  my  arm  was  to  plunge 
deep  into  the  tar  bucket  straight 
away  ;  and  certainly  there  was  no 
man  then  hailing  from  the  port  of 
Liverpool  better  able  to  qualify  a 
young  chap  for  the  profession  of  the 
sea — but  a  young  chap,  mind  you, 
who  liked  his  calling,  who  meant  to 
be  a  man  and  not  a  "  sojer  "  in  it — 
than  Captain  Funnel  of  the  schooner 
Lightning. 

The  four  sailors  slept  in  a  bit  of  a 
forecastle  forward  ;  we  three  appren- 
tices slung  our  hammocks  in  a  bulk- 
headed  part  of  the  run  or  steerage, 
a  gloomy  hole,  the  obscurity  of  which 
was  defined  rather  than  illuminated 
by  the  dim  twilight  sifting  down 
aslant  from  the  hatch.  Here  we 
stowed  our  chests,  and  here  we  took 
our  meals,  and  here  we  slept  and 
smoked  and  yarned  in  our  watch  be- 
low. I  very  well  remember  my  two 
fellow  apprentices.  One  was  named 
Corbin,  and  the  other  Halsted.  They 
were  both  of  them  smart,  honest, 
bright  lads,  coming  well  equipped 
and  well  educated  from  respectable 
homes,  in  love  with  the  calling  of  the 
sea,  and  resolved  in  time  not  only  to 
command  ships,  but  to  own  them. 

Well,  nothing  in  any  way  note- 
worthy   happened    for    many   days. 


i66     Zbe  Sbfp  Seen  on  tbe  Ifce 

Though  the  schooner  was  called  the 
Lightnitig,  she  was  by  no  means  a 
clipper.  She  was  built  on  lines 
which  were  fashionable  forty  years 
before,  when  the  shipwright  held  that 
a  ship's  stability  must  be  risked  if 
she  was  one  inch  longer  than  five 
times  her  beam.  She  was  an  old 
vessel,  but  dry  as  a  stale  cheese ; 
wallowed  rather  than  rolled,  yet  was 
stiff ;  would  sit  upright  with  erect 
spars,  like  the  cocked  ears  of  a  horse, 
in  breezes  which  bowed  passing  ves- 
sels down  to  their  wash-streaks. 
Her  round  bows  bruised  the  sea,  and 
when  it  entered  her  head  to  take  to 
her  heels,  she  would  wash  through  it 
like  a  "  gallied  whale,"  all  smothered 
to  the  hawse-pipes,  and  a  big  round 
polished  hump  of  brine  on  either 
quarter. 

We  ambled,  and  wallowed,  and 
blew,  and  in  divers  fashions  drove 
along  till  we  were  deep  in  the  heart 
of  the  North  Atlantic.  It  was  then 
a  morning  that  brought  the  first  of 
May  within  a  biscuit-toss  of  our 
reckoning  of  time  :  a  very  cold  morn- 
ing, the  sea  flat,  green,  and  greasy, 
with  a  streaking  of  white  about  it, 
as  though  it  were  a  flooring  of  mar- 
ble ;  there  was  wind  but  no  lift  in  the 
water  ;  and  Salamon  Sweers,  in  whose 


(C.be  Sbip  Seen  oti  tbe  Uce     167 

watch  I  was,  said  to  me,  when  the 
day  broke  and  showed  us  the  look  of 
the  ocean  : 

"  Blowed,"  said  he,  "if  a  man 
mightn't  swear  that  we  were  under 
the  lee  of  a  range  of  high  land." 

It  was  very  cold,  the  wind  about 
north-west,  the  sky  a  pale  grey,  with 
patches  of  weak  hazy  blue  in  it  here 
and  there  ;  and  here  and  there  again 
lay  some  darker  shadow  of  cloud 
curled  clean  as  though  painted. 
There  was  nothing  in  sight  saving 
the  topmost  cloths  of  a  little  barque 
heading  eastwards  away  down  to  lee- 
ward. Quiet  as  the  morning  was, 
not  once  during  the  passage  had  I 
found  the  temperature  so  cold.  I 
was  glad  when  the  job  of  washing 
down  was  over,  and  not  a  little  grate- 
ful for  the  hook-pot  of  steam  tea 
which  I  took  from  the  galley  to  my 
quarters  in  the  steerage. 

I  breakfasted  in  true  ocean  fash- 
ion, off  ship's  biscuit,  a  piece  of 
pork,  the  remains  of  yesterday's  din- 
ner, and  a  potful  of  black  liquor 
called  tea,  sweetened  by  molasses 
and  thickened  with  sodden  leaves 
and  fragments  of  twigs  ;  and  then, 
cutting  a  pipeful  of  tobacco  from  a 
stick  of  cavendish,  I  climbed  into 
my  hammock,  and  lay  there  smok- 


1 68     trbe  Sbfp  Seen  on  tbc  "flee 

ing  and  trying  to  read  in  Norie's 
Epitome  until  my  pipe  went  out,  on 
which  I  fell  asleep. 

I  was  awakened  by  young  Halsted, 
whose  hand  was  upon  the  edge  of 
my  hammock. 

"  Not  time  to  turn  out  yet,  I  hope  ?  " 
I  exclaimed.  "I  don't  feel  to  have 
been  below  ten  minutes." 

"  There  's  the  finest  sight  to  see  on 
deck,"  said  he,  "  that  you  're  likely  to 
turn  up  this  side  of  Boston.  Tumble 
up  and  have  a  look  if  only  for  five 
minutes  "  ;  and  without  another  word 
he  hastened  up  the  ladder. 

I  dropped  out  of  my  hammock, 
pulled  on  my  boots  and  monkey- 
jacket,  and  went  on  deck,  noting  the 
hour  by  the  cabin  clock  to  be  twenty 
minutes  before  eleven.  The  captain 
stood  at  the  mizzen-rigging  with  a 
telescope  at  his  eye,  and  beside  him 
stood  Mr.  Sweers,  likewise  holding  a 
glass,  and  both  men  pointed  their 
telescopes  towards  the  sea  on  the  lee 
bow,  where — never  having  before 
beheld  an  iceberg — I  perceived  what 
I  imagined  to  be  an  island  covered 
with  snow. 

An  iceberg  it  was — not  a  very 
large  one.  It  was  about  five  miles 
distant ;  it  had  a  ragged  sky  line 
which  made  it  resemble  a  piece  of 
cliff    gone   adrift — such  a  fragment 


trbe  Ship  Seen  on  tbe  IFce     169 


of  cliff  as,  let  me  say,  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  of  the  chalk  of  the  South  Fore- 
land would  make,  if  you  can  ima- 
gine a  mass  of  the  stuff  detaching 
itself  from  under  the  verdure  at  the 
top  and  floating  off  jagged  and  pre- 
cipitous. There  was  nothing  to  be 
seen  but  that  iceberg.  No  others. 
The  sea  ran  smooth  as  oil,  and  of  a 
hard  green,  piebald  foam  lines  as  in 
the  earlier  morning,  with  but  a  light 
swell  out  of  the  west,  which  came 
lifting  stealthily  to  the  side  of  the 
schooner.  There  was  a  small  breeze  ; 
the  sky  had  a  somewhat  gloomy 
look  ;  the  schooner  was  at  this  hour 
crawling  along  at  the  rate  of  about 
four  and  a  half  knots. 

I  said  to  Halsted  :  "  There  was 
nothing  in  sight  when  I  went  below 
at  eight  bells.  Where  's  that  berg 
come  from  ? " 

"  From  behind  the  horizon,"  he 
answered.  "  The  breeze  freshened 
soon  after  you  left  the  deck,  and 
only  slackened  a  little  while    since." 

"What  can  they  see  to  keep  them 
staring  so  hard  ?  "  said  I,  referring 
to  the  captain  and  Mr.  Sweers,  who 
kept  their  glasses  steadily  levelled  at 
the  iceberg. 

"  They  've  made  out  a  ship  upon 
the  ice,"  he  answered  ;  "a  ship  high 
and  dry  upon  a  slope  of  foreshore. 


I70     tlbc  Sbip  Seen  on  tbe  Hce 

I  believe  I  can  see  her  now — the 
gleam  of  the  snow  is  confusing ; 
there  's  a  black  spot  at  the  base  al- 
most amidships  of  the  berg." 

I  had  a  good  sight  in  those  days. 
I  peered  awhile  and  made  out  the 
object,  but  with  the  naked  eye  I 
could  never  have  distinguished  it  as 
a  ship  at  that  distance. 

"  She  's  a  barque,"  I  heard  Mr. 
Sweers  say. 

"  I  see  that,"  said  the  captain. 

"  She 's  got  a  pretty  strong  list," 
continued  the  mate,  talking  with  the 
glass  at  his  eye;  "her  topgallant- 
masts  are  struck,  but  her  topmasts 
are  standing." 

"  I  tell  you  what  it  is,"  said  the 
captain,  after  a  pause,  likewise  speak- 
ing whilst  he  gazed  through  his  tele- 
scope, "  that  ship  's  come  do\/n 
somewhere  from  out  of  the  North 
Pole.  She  never  could  have  struck 
the  ice  and  gone  ashore  as  we  see  her 
there.  She  's  been  locked  up  ;  then 
the  piece  she  's  on  broke  away  and 
made  sail  to  the  south.  I  've  fallen 
in  with  bergs  with  live  polar  bears  on 
them  in  my  time." 

"  What  is  she — a  whaler?  "  said 
Mr.  Sweers.  "  She  's  got  a  lumber- 
some  look  about  the  bulwarks,  as 
though  she  was  n't  short  of  cranes  ; 
but  I  can't  make  out  any  boats,  and 


tibc  Sbip  Seen  on  tbe  1fcc     171 


there  's  no  appearance  of  life  aboard 
her." 

"  Let  her  go  off  a  point,"  said  the 
captain  to  the  fellow  at  the  wheel. 
"  Mr.  Sweers,  she  '11  be  worth  looking 
at,"  he  continued,  slowly  directing  his 
gaze  round  the  sea-line,  as  though 
considering  the  weather.  'You've 
heard  of  Sir  John  Franklin  ?  " 

"  Have  I  heard  ?"  said  the  mate, 
with  a  Dutch  shrug. 

"It  's  the  duty  of  every  English 
sailor,"  said  the  captain,  "  to  keep  his 
weather  eye  lifting  whenever  he  smells 
ice  north' of  the  equator  ;  for  who  's 
to  tell  what  relics  of  the  Franklin 
expedition  he  may  not  light_  on  ? 
And  how  are  we  to  know,"  continued 
he,  again  directing  his  glass  at  the 
berg,  "that  yonder  vessel  may  not 
have  taken  part  in  that  expedition  ?  " 

"There's  a  reward  going,"  said 
Mr.  Sweers,  "  for  the  man  \yho  can 
discover  anything  about  Sir  John 
Franklin  and  his  party." 

The  captain  grinned  and  quickly 
grew  grave. 

We  drew  slowly  towards  the  ice- 
berg, at  which  I  gazed  with  some  de- 
gree of  disappointment  ;  for,  never 
before  having  beheld  ice  in  a  great 
mass  like  the  heap  that  was  yonder, 
I  had  expected  to  see  something  ad- 
mirable and  magnificent,  an  island  of 


172     Zbe  Sbip  Seen  on  tbe  "ffce 

glass,  full  of  fiery  sparklings  and  ruby 
and  emerald  beams,  a  shape  of  crys- 
tal cut  by  the  hand  of  King  Frost 
into  a  hundred  inimitable  devices. 
Instead  of  which,  the  island  of  ice, 
on  which  lay  the  hull  of  the  ship, 
was  of  a  dead,  unpolished  whiteness, 
abrupt  at  the  extremities,  about  a 
hundred  and  twenty  feet  tall  at  its 
loftiest  point,  not  more  picturesque 
than  a  rock,  covered  with  snow,  and 
interesting  only  to  my  mind  because 
of  the  distance  it  had  measured,  and 
because  of  the  fancies  it  raised  in  one 
of  the  white,  silent,  and  stirless  prin- 
cipalities from  which  it  had  floated 
into  these  parts. 

"Get  the  jolly-boat  over,  Mr. 
Sweers,"  said  the  captain,  "  and  take 
a  hand  with  you,  and  go  and  have  a 
look  at  that  craft  there  ;  and  if  you 
can  board  her,  do  so,  and  bring  away 
her  log-book,  if  you  come  across  it. 
The  newspapers  sha'  n't  say  that  I 
fell  in  with  such  an  object  as  that  and 
passed  on  without  taking  any  no- 
tice." 

I  caught  Mr.  Sweers'  eye.  "  You  '11 
do,"  said  he,  and  in  a  few  minutes  he 
and  I  were  pulling  away  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  ice,  I  in  the  bow  and  he 
aft,  rowing  fisherman  fashion,  face 
forward.  The  schooner  had  backed 
her  yards  on  the  fore  when  she  was 


trbc  Sbfp  Seen  on  tbc  1fcc     173 


within  a  mile  of  the  berg,  and  we  had 
not  far  to  row.  Our  four  arms  made 
the  fat  little  jolly-boat  buzz  over  the 
wrinkled  surface  of  the  green,  cold 
water.  The  wreck — if  a  wreck  she 
could  be  called — lay  with  her  decks 
sloping  seawards  upon  an  inclined 
shelf  or  beach  of  ice,  with  a  mass  of 
rugged,  abrupt  stuff  behind  her,  and 
vast  coagulated  lumps  heaped  like  a 
Stonehenge  at  her  bows  and  at  her 
stern.  When  we  approached  the 
beach,  as  I  may  term  it,  Salamon 
Sweers  said  : 

"  I  '11  tell  you  what  :  I  am  not 
going  to  board  that  craft  alone, 
Kerry.  Who  's  to  tell  what 's  inside 
of  her?  She  may  have  been  lying 
twenty  years,  for  all  we  know, 
frozen  up  where  it  's  always  day  or 
always  night — where  everything  's 
out  of  the  order  of  nature,  in  fact ; 
and  rat  me  if  I  'm  going  to  be  the 
first  man  to  enter  her  cabin." 

"  I  'm  along  with  you,"  said  I. 

"  So  you  are,  David,"  said  he, 
"  and  we  '11  overhaul  her  together, 
and  the  best  way  to  secure  the  boat  '11 
be  to  drag  her  high  and  dry  "  ;  and 
as  he  said  this,  the  stem  of  the  boat 
touched  the  ice,  and  we  both  of  us 
jumped  out,  and,  catching  hold  of  her 
by  the  gunwale,  walked  her  up  the 
slope   by    some  five   times   her  own 


174     n;be  Sbip  Seen  on  tbe  iFce 

length,  where  she  lay  as  snug  as 
though  chocked  aboard  her  own 
mother,  the  schooner. 

Sweers  and  I  stood,  first  of  all,  to 
take  a  view  of  the  barque — for  a 
barque  she  was  :  her  topgallant- 
masts  down,  but  her  topsail  and 
lower  yards  across,  sails  bent,  all 
gear  rove,  and  everything  right  so  far 
as  we  could. see,  saving  that  her  flying 
jib-boom  was  gone.  There  was  no  need 
to  look  long  at  her  to  know  that  she 
had  n't  been  one  of  Franklin's  ships. 
Her  name  and  the  place  she  hailed 
from  were  on  her  stern  :  the  Presi- 
dent, New  Bedford.  And  now  it  was 
easy  to  see  that  she  was  a  Yankee 
whaler.  Her  sides  bristled  with 
cranes  or  davits  for  boats,  but  every 
boat  was  gone.  The  tackles  were 
overhauled,  and  the  blocks  of  two  of 
them  lay  upon  the  ice.  She  was  a 
stout,  massive,  round-bowed  struc- 
ture, to  all  appearances  as  sound  as 
on  the  day  when  she  was  launched. 
She  was  coppered  ;  not  a  sheet  of 
metal  was  off,  not  a  rent  anywhere 
visible  through  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  dingy  green  surface  of  it. 

We  first  of  all  walked  round  her, 
not  knowing  but  that  on  the  other 
side,  concealed  from  the  landing- 
place  by  the  interposition  of  the  hull, 
some  remains  of  her  people  might  be 


Zbc  Sblp  Seen  on  tbe  Ifce     175 


lying;  but  there  was  nothing  in  that 
way  to  see.  We  united  our  voices  in 
a  loud  "  Hallo  !  "  and  the  rocks  re- 
echoed us  ;  but  all  was  still,  frozen, 
lifeless. 

"Let  's  get  aboard,"  said  Mr. 
Sweers,  gazing,  nevertheless,  up  at 
the  ship's  side  with  a  flat  face  of  re- 
luctance and  doubt. 

I  grasped  a  boat's  fall  and  went 
up  hand  over  hand,  and  Sweers  fol- 
lowed me.  The  angle  of  the  deck 
was  considerable,  but  owing  to  the 
flat  bilge  of  the  whaler's  bottom,  not 
greater  than  the  inclination  of  the 
deck  of  a  ship  under  a  heavy  press 
of  canvas.  It  was  possible  to  walk. 
We  put  our  legs  over  the  rail  and 
came  to  a  stand,  and  took  a  view  of 
the  decks  of  the  ship.  Nothing,  sav- 
ing the  boats,  seemed  to  be  missing. 
Every  detail  of  deck  furniture  was 
as  complete  as  though  the  ship  were 
ready  for  getting  under  way,  with 
a  full  hold,  for  a  final  start  home. 
Caboose,  scuttle-butts,  harness-cask, 
wheel,  binnacle,  companion-cover, 
skylight,  winch,  pumps,  capstan — 
nothing  was  wanting  ;  nothing  but 
boats  and  men. 

"Is  it  possible  that  all  hands  can 
be  below  ? "  said  Sweers,  straining 
his  ear. 

I  looked  aloft  and  about  me,  won- 


176     ^be  Sbip  Seen  on  tbe  IFce 

dering  that  the  body  of  the  vessel 
and  her  masts  and  rigging  should 
not  be  sheathed  with  ice  ;  but  if  ever 
the  structure  had  been  glazed  in  her 
time,  when  she  lay  hard  and  fast  far 
to  the  north  of  Spitzbergen,  for  all 
one  could  tell,  nothing  was  now 
frozen  ;  there  was  not  so  inuch  as  an 
icicle  anywhere  visible  about  her. 
The  decks  were  dry,  and  on  my  kick- 
ing a  coil  of  rope  that  was  near  my 
feet  the  stuff  did  not  crackle,  as  one 
could  have  expected,  as  though 
frosted  to  the  core. 

"The  vessel  seems  to  have  been 
thawed  through,"  said  I,  "and  I  ex- 
pect that  this  berg  is  only  a  fragment 
of  the  mass  that  broke  adrift  with 
her." 

"Likely  enough,"  •  said  Sweers. 
"  Hark  !  what  is  that  ?  " 

"  What  do  you  hear  ?  "  I  exclaimed. 

"Why,  that r'  cried  he,  pointing 
to  a  shallow  fissure  in  the  icy  rocks 
which  towered  above  the  ship  :  and 
down  the  fissure  I  spied  a  cascade  of 
water  falling  like  smoke,  with  a  harsh, 
hissing  noise,  which  I  had  mistaken 
for  the  seething  of  the  sea.  I  ran  my 
eye  over  the  face  of  the  heights  and 
witnessed  many  similar  falls  of  water. 

"  There  '11  not  be  much  of  tliis  ice- 
berg left  soon,"  said  I,  "  if  the  drift  is 
to  the  southward." 


tlbc  Sbtp  Seen  on  tbe  Ifce     177 

"  What  d'  ye  think, — that  the  drift 's 
northerly  ?  "  exclaimed  Sweers.  "  I  '11 
tell  you  what  it  is  ;  it 's  these  icebergs 
drifting  in  masses  down  south  into 
the  Atlantic  which  cause  the  sudden 
spells  of  cold  weather  you  get  in 
England  during  seasons  when  it  ought 
to  be  hot." 

As  he  said  this  he  walked  to  the 
companion-hatch,  the  cover  of  which 
was  closed,  and  the  door  shut.  The 
cover  yielded  to  a  thrust  of  his  hand. 
He  then  pulled  open  the  doors  and 
put  his  head  in,  and  I  heard  him  spit. 

"  There  's  foul  air  here,"  said  he  ; 
"  but  where  a  match  will  burn  a  man 
can  breathe,  I  've  learnt." 

He  struck  a  match,  and  descended 
two  or  three  steps  of  the  ladder,  and 
then  called  out  to  me  to  follow.  The 
air  was  not  foul,  but  it  was  close,  and 
there  was  a  dampish  smell  upon  it, 
and  it  was  charged  with  a  fishy  odour 
like  that  of  decaying  spawn  and  dead 
marine  vegetation.  Light  fell  through 
the  companion-way,  and  a  sort  of 
blurred  dimness  drained  through  the 
grimy  skylight. 

We  thoroughly  overhauled  this 
interior,  spending  some  time  in  look- 
ing about  us,  for  Sweers'  fear  of 
beholding  something  affrighting  van- 
ished when  he  found  himself  in  a 
plain  ship's  cabin,  with  nothing  more 


178     ^bc  Sbip  Seen  on  tbe  IFce 

terrible  to  behold  than  the  ship's 
furniture  of  a  whaleman's  living-room 
of  near  half  a  century  old.  There 
were  three  sleeping-berths,  and  these 
we  explored,  but  met  with  nothing 
that  in  any  way  hinted  at  the  story  of 
the  ship.  It  was  impossible  to  tell, 
indeed,  which  had  been  the  captain's 
cabin.  All  three  berths  were  filled 
alike  with  lockers,  hammocks,  wash- 
stands,  and  so  forth  ;  and  two  of 
them  were  lighted  by  dirty  little  scut- 
tles in  the  ship's  side  ;  but  the  third 
lay  athwartships,  and  all  the  light 
that  it  received  came  from  the  cabin 
through  its  open  door. 

I  don't  know  how  long  we  were 
occupied  in  hunting  these  cabins  for 
any  sort  of  papers  which  would  en- 
able Captain  Funnel  to  make  out  the 
story  of  the  barque.  We  were  too 
eager  and  curious  and  interested  to 
heed  the  passage  of  time.  There 
were  harpoons  and  muskets  racked  in 
the  state  cabin,  some  wearing  apparel 
in  the  berths,  a  few  books  on  nautical 
subjects,  but  without  the  owners' 
names  in  them,  and  there  was  a  bun- 
dle of  what  proved  to  be  bear's  skins 
stowed  away  in  the  corner  of  the 
berth  that  was  without  a  scuttle.  A 
door  led  to  a  couple  of  bulk-headed 
compartments  in  the  fore  part  of  the 
state  cabin,  and   Sweers  was   in   the 


XLbc  Sblp  Seen  on  tbe  ITce     179 

act  of  advancing  to  it  when  he  cried 
out  : 

"  By  the  tunder  of  heaven,  what  is 
dot  ?  "  losing  his  customary  hold  of 
the  English  tongue  in  the  excitement 
of  the  moment. 

"  The  ice  is  melting  and  discharg- 
ing in  Niagara  Falls  upon  the  whaler's 
deck  !  "  1  cried,  after  listening  a  mo- 
ment to  the  noise  of  a  downpour 
that  rang  through  the  cabin  in  a  hol- 
low thunder. 

We  rushed  on  deck.  A  furious 
squall  was  blowing,  but  the  air  was 
becalmed  where  the  vessel  lay  by  the 
high  cliffs  of  ice,  and  the  rain  of  the 
squall  fell  almost  up  and  down  in  a 
very  sheet  of  water,  intermingled 
with  hailstones  as  big  as  the  eggs  of 
a  thrush.  The  whole  scene  of  the 
ocean  was  a  swirling,  revolving 
smother,  as  though  the  sky  was  full 
of  steam,  and  the  screech  of  the  wind, 
as  it  fled  off  the  edge  of  the  dead 
white  heights  which  sheltered  us, 
pierced  the  ear  like  the  whistlings  of 
a  thousand  locomotives. 

There  was  nothing  to  be  seen  of 
the  schooner  :  but  f/taf  was  trifling 
for  the  moment  compared  to  this  : 
^/lere  was  nothino^  to  be  seen  of  the 
boat!  The  furious  discharge  of  the 
squall  would  increase  her  weight  by 
half  filling  her  with  water  ;  the  slash- 


i8o     Zbc  Sblp  Seen  on  tbe  flee 

ing  wet  of  the  rain  would  also  render 
the  icy  slope  up  which  we  had  hauled 
her  as  slippery  as  a  sheet  for  skaters  ; 
a  single  shock  or  blast  of  wind  might 
suffice  to  start  her.  Be  this  as  it  will, 
she  had  launched  herself — she  was 
gone  !  We  strained  our  sight,  but 
no  faintest  blotch  of  shadow  could  we 
distinguish  amid  the  white  water 
rushing  smoothly  off  from  the  base  of 
the  berg,  and  streaming  into  the  pallid 
shadow  of  the  squall  where  you  saw 
the  sea  clear  of  the  ice  beginning  to 
work  with  true  Atlantic  spite. 

"  Crate  Cott  !  "  cried  Sweers, 
"  what 's  to  be  done  ?  There  was  no 
appearance  of  a  squall  when  we  landed 
here.  It  drove  up  abaft  this  berg, 
and  it  may  have  been  hidden  from 
the  schooner  herself  by  the  ice." 

We  crouched  in  the  companion-way 
for  shelter,  not  doubting  that  the 
squall  would  speedily  pass,  and  that 
the  schooner,  which  we  naturally 
supposed  lay  close  to  the  berg  hove- 
to,  would,  the  instant  the  weather 
cleared,  send  a  boat  to  take  us  off. 
But  the  squall,  instead  of  abating, 
gradually  rose  into  half  a  gale  of 
wind — a  wet  dark  gale  that  shrouded 
the  sea  with  flying  spume  and  rain  to 
within  a  musket-shot  of  the  iceberg, 
whilst  the  sky  was  no  more  than  a 
weeping, pouring  shadow  coming  and 


TLbc  Sblp  Seen  on  tbe  Hcc     iSi 

going  as  it  were  with  a  lightening  and 
darkening  of  it  by  masses  of  head- 
long torn  vapour.  Some  of  the  rag- 
ged pinnacles  of  the  cliffs  of  ice 
seemed  to  pierce  that  wild  dark,  fly- 
ing sky  of  storm  as  it  swept  before 
the  gale  close  down  over  our  heads. 

We  could  not  bring  our  minds  to 
realise  that  we  were  to  be  left  aboard 
this  ice-stranded  whaler  all  night,  and 
perhaps  all  next  day,  and  for  heaven 
alone  knows  how  much  longer  for 
the  matter  of  that  ;  and  it  was  not 
until  the  darkness  of  the  evening  had 
drawn  down,  coming  along  early  with 
the  howling  gloom  of  the  storm- 
shrouded  ocean,  without  so  much  as 
a  rusty  tinge  of  hectic  to  tell  us  where 
the  West  lay,  that  we  abandoned  our 
idle  task  of  staring  at  the  sea,  and 
made  up  our  minds  to  go  through 
with  the  night  as  best  we  could. 

And  first  of  all  we  entered  the 
galley,  and  by  the  aid  of  such  dim 
light  as  still  lived  we  contrived  to 
catch  sight  of  a  tin  lamp  with  a  spout 
to  it  dangling  over  the  coppers. 
There  was  a  wick  in  the  spout,  but 
one  might  swear  that  the  lamp  hadn't 
been  used  for  months  and  months. 

"  We  must  have  a  light  anyhow," 
said  Sweers,  "and  if  this  President 
be  a  whaler,  there  should  be  no  lack 
of  oil  aboard." 


i82     ^bc  Sbip  Seen  on  tbc  lice 

After  groping  awhile  in  some 
shelves  stocked  with  black-handled 
knives  and  forks,  tin  dishes,  panni- 
kins, and  the  like,  I  put  my  hand 
upon  a  stump  of  candle-end.  This 
we  lighted,  Sweers  luckily  having  a 
box  of  lucifers  in  his  pocket,  and 
with  the  aid  of  the  candle-flame,  we 
discovered  in  the  corner  of  the  galley 
a  lime-juice  jar  half-full  of  oil.  With 
this  we  trimmed  the  lamp,  and  then 
stepped  on  deck  to  grope  our  way  to 
the  cabin,  meaning  to  light  the  lamp 
down  there,  for  no  unsheltered  flame 
would  have  lived  an  instant  in  the 
fierce  draughts  which  rushed  and 
eddied  about  the  decks. 

We  stayed  a  moment  to  look  sea- 
wards, but  all  was  black  night  out 
there,  touched  in  places  with  a  sud- 
den flash  of  foam.  The  voice  of  the 
gale  was  awful  with  the  warring  noise 
of  the  waters,  and  with  the  restless 
thunder  of  seas  smiting  the  ice  on  the 
weather  side,  and  with  the  wild  and 
often  terrific  crackling  sounds  which 
arose  out  of  the  heart  of  the  solid 
mass  of  the  berg  itself, as  though  earth- 
quakes in  endless  processions  were 
trembling  through  it,  and  as  though, 
at  any  moment,  the  whole  vast  bulk 
would  be  rent  into  a  thousand  crystal 
splinters.  Sweers  was  silent  until 
we  had  gained  the  cabin  and  lighted 


Zbc  Sbip  Seen  on  the  lice     183 


the  lamp.  He  then  looked  at  me 
with  an  ashen  face,  and  groaned. 

"This  gale's  going  to  blow  the 
schooner  away,"  said  he.  "We're 
lost  men,  David.  I  'd  give  my  right 
eye  to  be  aboard  the  Lightning.  D'  ye 
understand  the  trick  of  these  bloom- 
ing icebergs  ?  They  wash  away  un- 
derneath, grow  topheavy,  and  then 
over  goes  the  show.  And  to  think 
of  the  jolly-boat  making  off,  as  if  two 
sailormen  like  you  and  me  couldn't 
have  provided  for  that !  " 

He  groaned  again,  and  then  seated 
himself,  and  appeared  wholly  de- 
prived of  energy  and  spirit. 

However,  now  that  I  was  below, 
under  shelter,  out  of  the  noise  of  the 
weather,  and  therefore  able  to  collect 
my  thoughts,  I  began  to  feel  very 
hungry  and  thirsty  ;  in  fact,  neither 
Sweers  nor  I  had  tasted  food  since 
breakfast  at  eight  o'clock  that  morn- 
ing. A  lamp  hung  aslant  from  the 
cabin  ceiling.  It  was  a  small  lamp 
of  brass,  glazed.  I  unhooked  it,  and 
brought  it  to  the  light,  but  it  was 
without  a  wick,  and  there  was  no  oil 
in  it,  and  to  save  time  I  stuck  the 
lighted  candle  in  the  lamp,  and  leav- 
ing the  other  lamp  burning  to  enable 
Sweers  to  rummage  also,  I  passed 
through  the  door  that  was  in  the 
forepart    of   the    cabin  ;  and   here  I 


i84     ITbc  Sbtp  Seen  on  tbe  IFce 

found  three  berths,  one  of  which  was 
furnished  as  a  pantry,  whilst  the  other 
two  were  sleeping-places,  with  bunks 
in  them,  and  I  observed  also  a  sheaf 
or  two  of  harpoons,  together  with 
spades  and  implements  used  in  deal- 
ing with  the  whale  after  the  monster 
has  been  killed  and  towed  along- 
side. 

The  atmosphere  was  horribly  close 
and  fishy  in  this  place,  reeking  of 
oil,  yet  cold  as  ice,  as  though  the 
ship  lay  drowned  a  thousand  fathoms 
deep.  I  called  to  Sweers  to  bring 
his  lamp,  for  my  candle  gave  so  poor 
a  light  I  could  scarce  see  by  it ;  and 
in  the  berth  that  looked  to  have  been 
used  as  a  pantry  we  found  half  a  bar- 
rel of  pork,  a  bag  of  ship's  biscuit, 
and  a  quantity  of  Indian  meal,  beans, 
and  rice,  a  canister  of  coffee,  and  a 
few  jars  of  pickles.  But  we  could 
find  nothing  to  drink. 

I  was  now  exceedingly  thirsty  ;  so 
I  took  a  pannikin — a  number  of  ves- 
sels of  the  sort  were  on  the  shelf  in 
the  pantry — and  carried  it  with  the 
lamp  on  deck.  I  had  taken  notice 
during  the  day  of  four  or  five  buck- 
ets in  a  row  abaft  the  mainmast,  and, 
approaching  them,  I  held  the  light 
close,  and  found  each  bucket  full.  I 
tasted  the  water ;  it  Avas  rain  and 
without  the  least  flavour  of  salt ;  and, 


Zbc  Sbip  Seen  on  tbe  IFce     185 


after  drinking  heartily,  I  filled  the 
pannikin  afresh  and  carried  it  down 
to  Sweers. 

There  was  a  spiritlessness  in  this 
man  that  surprised  me.  I  had  not 
thouglit  to  find  the  faculties  of  Sala- 
mon  Sweers  so  quickly  benumbed  by 
what  was  indeed  a  wild  and  danger- 
ous confrontment,  yet  not  so  formid- 
able and  hopeless  as  to  weaken  the 
nerves  of  a  seaman.  I  yearned  for 
a  bottle  of  rum,  for  any  sort  of  strong 
waters  indeed,  guessing  that  a  dram 
would  help  us  both  ;  and  after  I  had 
made  a  meal  off  some  raw  pork  and 
molasses  spread  upon  the  ship's  bis- 
cuit, which  was  mouldy  and  astir  with 
weevils,  I  took  my  lantern  and  again 
went  on  deck,  and  made  my  way  to 
the  galley  where  the  oil  jar  stood, 
and  here  in  a  drawer  I  found  what 
now  I  most  needed,  but  what  before 
I  had  overlooked  ;  I  mean  a  parcel 
of  braided  lamp  wicks.  I  trimmed 
the  lamp  and  got  a  brilliant  light. 
The  glass  protected  the  flame  from 
the  rush  of  the  wind  about  the  deck. 
I  guessed  there  would  be  nothing 
worth  finding  in  the  barque's  fore- 
castle, and  not  doubting  that  there 
was  a  lazarette  in  which  would  be 
stored  such  ship  provisions  as  the 
crew  had  left  behind  them,  I  re- 
turned to  the  cabin,  looked  for  the 


i86     XLbc  Sbip  Seen  on  tbe  Hce 

lazarette  hatch,  and  found  it  under 
the  table. 

Well,  to  cut  this  part  of  the  story 
short,  Sweers  and  I  dropi)ed  into  the 
lazarette,  and  after  spending  an  hour 
or  two  in  examining  what  we  met 
with,  we  discovered  enough  provi- 
sions, along  with  some  casks  of  rum 
and  bottled  beer,  to  last  a  ship's  com- 
pany of  twenty  men  a  whole  six 
months.  This  was  Sweers'  reckon- 
ing. We  carried  some  of  the  bottled 
beer  into  the  cabin,  and  having  pipes 
and  tobacco  with  us  in  our  pockets, 
we  filled  and  smoked,  and  sat  listen- 
ing to  the  wet  storming  down  the 
decks  overhead,  and  to  the  roaring 
of  the  wind  on  high,  and  to  the  crack- 
ling noises  of  the  ice. 

That  first  night  with  us  on  board 
the  whaler  was  a  fearful  time.  Some- 
times we  dozed  as  we  sat  confronting 
each  other  on  the  lockers,  but  again 
and  again  would  we  start  up  and  go 
on  deck,  but  only  to  look  into  the 
blindness  of  the  night,  and  only  to 
hearken  to  the  appalling  noises  of  the 
weather  and  the  ice.  When  day 
broke  there  was  nothing  in  sight.  It 
was  blowing  strong,  a  high  sea  was 
running,  and  the  ocean  lay  shrouded 
as  though  with  vapour. 

During  the  course  of  the  morning 
we  entered  the  forepeak,  where   we 


XLbc  Sblp  Seen  on  tbe  IFce     187 


found  a  quantity  of  coal.  This  en- 
abled us  to  light  the  galley  fire,  to 
cook  a  piece  of  pork,  and  to  boil 
some  coffee.  Towards  noon  Sweers 
proposed  to  inspect  the  hold,  and  to 
see  what  was  inside  the  ship.  Ac- 
cordingly we  opened  the  main  hatch 
and  found  the  vessel  loaded  with 
casks,  some  of  which  we  examined 
and  found  them  full  of  oil. 

"  By  tunder  !  "  cried  Sweers  ;  "  if 
we  could  only  carry  this  vessel  home 
there  'd  be  a  fortune  for  both  of  us, 
David.  Shall  I  tell  you  what  this 
sort  of  oil  's  worth  ?  Well,  it  's  worth 
about  thirty  pounds  a  ton.  And 
how  much  d'  ye  think  there  's 
aboard  ?  Not  less  than  a  hundred 
ton,  if  I  don't  see  double.  There  's 
no  man  can  teach  me  the  capacity  of 
a  cask,  and  there  are  casks  below 
varying  from  forty-two  to  two  hun- 
dred and  seventy-five  gallons,  with  no 
lack  of  whalebone  stored  dry  some- 
where, I  don't  doubt,  if  those  casks 
would  let  us  look  for  it." 

But  this  was  no  better  than  idle 
and  ironical  chatter  in  the  mouths  of 
men  so  hideously  situated  as  we  were. 
For  my  part  I  had  no  thought  of 
saving  the  ship  ;  indeed,  I  had  scarce 
any  hope  of  saving  my  own  life.  We 
found  an  American  ensign  in  a  small 
flag-locker  that  was  lashed  near  the 


i88     ?rbe  Sbtp  Seen  on  tbe  Hce 

wheel,  and  we  sent  it  half-mast  high, 
with  the  stars  inverted.  Then  we 
searched  for  fresh  water,  and  found 
three  iron  tanks  nearly  full  in  the 
after-hold.  The  water  stunk  with 
keeping,  as  though  it  had  grown  rank 
in  the  bilge,  but  after  it  had  stood  a 
little  while  exposed  to  air  it  became 
sweet  enough  to  use.  There  was  no 
fear  then  of  our  perishing  from 
hunger  and  thirst  whilst  the  whaler 
kept  together.  Our  main  and  immi- 
nent danger  lay  in  the  sudden 
dissolution  of  the  ice,  or  in  the  cap- 
sizal  of  the  berg.  It  was  our  un- 
happy fortune  that,  numerous  as  were 
the  cranes  overhanging  the  whaler's 
side,  we  should  not  have  found  a  boat 
left  in  one  of  them.  Our  only  chance 
lay  in  a  raft ;  but  both  Sweers  and  I, 
as  sailors,  shrank  from  the  thought  of 
such  a  means  of  escape.  Wemightwell 
guess  that  a  raft  would  but  prolong 
our  lives  in  the  midst  of  so  wide  a  sea, 
by  a  few  days,  and  perhaps  by  a  few 
hoursonly,  after  subjecting  us  to  every 
agony  of  despair  and  of  expectation, 
and  torturing  us  with  God  alone 
would  know  what  privations. 

We  thoroughly  overhauled  the 
forecastle  of  the  vessel,  but  found 
nothing  of  interest.  There  were  a 
few  seamen's  chests,  some  odds  and 
ends   of   wearing   apparel,  and  here 


Zbc  Sblp  Seen  on  tbe  Hce     189 

and  there  a  blanket  in  a  bunk  ;  but 
the  crew  in  clearing  out  appeared  to 
have  carried  off  most  of  their  effects 
with  them.  Of  course  we  could  only 
conjecture  what  they  had  done  and 
how  they  had  managed  ;  but  it  was 
to  be  guessed  that  all  the  boats  be- 
ing gone  the  sailors  had  taken  advan- 
tage of  a  split  in  the  ice  to  get  away 
from  their  hard  and  fast  ship,  em- 
l)loying  all  their  boats  that  they 
might  carry  with  them  a  plentiful 
store  of  water  and  provisions. 

I  should  but  weary  you  to  dwell 
day  by  day  upon  the  passage  of  time 
that  Sweers  and  I  passed  upon  this 
ship  that  we  had  seen  upon  the  ice. 
We  kept  an  eager  look-out  for  craft, 
crawling  to  the  mastheads  so  as  to 
obtain  a  view  over  the  blocks  of  ice 
which  lay  in  masses  at  the  stem  and 
stern  of  the  whaler.  But  though  we 
often  caught  sight  of  a  distant  sail, 
nothing  ever  approached  us  close 
enough  to  observe  our  signal.  Once, 
indeed,  a  large  steamer  passed  with- 
in a  couple  of  miles  of  the  iceberg, 
and  we  watched  her  with  devouring 
eyes,  forever  imagining  that  she  was 
slowing  down  and  about  to  stop,  un- 
til she  vanished  out  of  our  sight  past 
the  north  end  of  the  berg.  Yet,  we 
had  no  other  hope  of  rescue  than  that 
of  being  taken  off  by  a  passing  ship. 


iQo     Zbc  Sblp  Seen  on  tbe  lice 

I  never  recollect  meeting  at  sea 
with  such  a  variety  of  weather  as  we 
encountered.  There  would  be  clear 
sunshine  and  bright  blue  skies  for  a 
day,  followed  by  dark  and  bellowing 
nights  of  storm.  Then  would  come 
periods  of  thick  fogs,  followed  by 
squalls,  variable  winds,  and  so  on. 
We  guessed,  however,  that  our  trend 
was  steadily  southwards,  by  the 
steady  cascading  of  the  ice,  by  the 
frequent  falls  of  large  blocks,  and  by 
the  increasing  noises  of  sudden,  tre- 
mendous disruptions,  loud  and  heart- 
subduing  as  thundershocks  heard 
close  to. 

"  If  we  are  n't  taken  off,"  said 
Sweers  to  me  one  day,  "  there  's  just 
this  one  chance  for  us.  The  ice  is 
bound  to  melt.  All  these  bergs,  as  I 
reckon,  disappear  somewhere  to  the 
nor'ard  of  the  verge  of  the  Gulf 
Stream.  Well,  now  the  Lord  may  be 
good  to  us,  and  it  may  happen  that 
this  berg  '11  melt  away  and  leave  the 
whaler  afloat  ;  and  float  she  must  if 
she  is  n't  crushed  by  the  ice.  Let 
her  leak  like  a  sieve  — there  's  oil 
enough  in  her  to  keep  her  standing 
upright  as  though  she  were  a  line-of- 
battle  ship." 

Well,  we  had  been  a  little  more 
than  a  fortnight  upon  this  ship  hard 
and  fast  upon  the  ice.     Many  a  ves- 


Zbc  Sbip  Seen  on  tbe  IFcc     191 

sel  had  we  sighted,  but  never  a  one 
of  them,  saving  the  steamer  I  have 
mentioned,  had  approached  within 
eyeshot  of  our  distress  signal.  Yet 
our  health  was  good,  and  our  spirits 
tolerably  easy  ;  we  had  fared  well, 
there  was  no  lack  of  food  and  drink, 
and  we  were  beginning  to  feel  some 
confidence  in  the  iceberg — by  which 
I  mean  to  say  that  the  rapid  thawing 
of  its  upper  parts,  where  all  the 
weight  was,  filled  us  with  the  hope 
that  the  mass  would  n't  capsize  as  we 
had  feared  ;  that  it  would  hold  to- 
gether so  as  to  keep  the  ship  on  end 
as  she  now  was  until  we  were  res- 
cued, or,  failing  our  being  rescued, 
that  it  would  dissolve  in  such  a  way 
as  to  leave  the  whaler  afloat. 

It  was  somewhere  about  the  end 
of  a  fortnight,  as  I  have  said.  My 
bed  was  a  cabin  locker,  on  which  I 
had  placed  a  mattress  and  a  bear- 
skin. Both  Sweers  and  I  turned  in 
of  a  night,  unless  it  was  clear 
weather  ;  though  if  I  awoke  I  'd 
sometimes  steal  on  deck  to  take  a 
peep,  for  nothing  could  come  of  our 
keeping  a  look-out  if  it  was  blowing 
hard,  and  if  it  was  black  and  thick. 

This  night  it  was  a  bit  muddy  and 
dark,  with  a  moderate  breeze  out  of 
the  south-west,  as  far  as  we  could 
guess  at  the  bearings  of  the  wind.     I 


192     ^be  Sbip  Seen  on  tbe  IFce 

was  awakened  from  a  deep  slumber 
by  an  extraordinary  convulsion  in 
the  ship.  I  was  half-stupefied  with 
sleep,  and  can  therefore  but  im- 
perfectly recall  my  sensations  and 
the  character  of  what  I  may  term  the 
throes  and  spasms  of  the  vessel.  I 
was  thrown  from  the  locker  and  lay 
for  some  moments  incapable  of  ris- 
ing by  the  shock  of  the  fall.  But 
one  thing  my  senses,  even  when  they 
were  scarce  yet  awake,  took  note  of, 
and  that  was  a  prodigious  roaring 
noise,  similar  in  effect  to  what  might 
be  produced  by  a  cannon-ball  rolling 
along  a  hollow  wooden  floor,  only 
that  the  noise  was  thousands  of 
times  greater  than  ever  could  have 
been  produced  by  a  cannon-ball. 
The  lamp  was  out,  and  the  cabin  in 
pitch  blackness.  I  heard  Sweers 
from  some  corner  of  the  cabin,  bawl- 
ing out  my  name  ;  but  before  I 
could  answer,  and  even  whilst  I  was 
staggering  to  my  feet,  a  second  con- 
vulsion threw  me  down  again  ;  the 
next  instant  there  was  a  sensation 
as  of  the  vessel  being  hove  up  into 
the  air,  attended  by  an  extraordinary 
grinding  noise,  that  thrilled  through 
every  beam  of  her  ;  next,  in  the  space 
of  a  few  beats  of  the  heart,  she 
plunged  into  the  sea,  raising  such  a 
boiling  and  roaring  of  waters,  as,  spite 


Zbe  Sbip  Seen  on  tbe  Hcc     193 

of  the  sounds  being  dulled  to  our 
ears  by  our  being  in  the  cabin,  per- 
suaded us  that  the  vessel  was  foun- 
dering. 

But  even  whilst  I  thus  thought, 
holding  my  breath  and  waiting  for 
the  death  that  was  to  come  with  the 
pouring  of  the  water  down  the  open 
companion-w^ay,  I  felt  the  ship  right ; 
she  lifted  buoyant  under  foot,  and  I 
sprang  to  the  steps  which  conducted 
on  deck,  with  Sweers — as  I  might 
know  by  his  voice— close  at  my  heels, 
roaring  out,  "  By  tunder,  we  're  adrift 
and  afloat ! " 

The  stars  were  shining,  there  was  a 
red  moon  low  in  the  west,  the  weather 
had  cleared,  and  a  quiet  wind  was 
blowing.  At  the  distance  of  some 
hundred  yards  from  the  ship  stood  a 
few  pallid  masses — the  remains  of  the 
berg.  It  was  just  possible  to  make 
out  that  the  water  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  those  dim  heaps  was  covered 
with  fragments  of  ice.  How  the 
liberation  of  the  ship  had  come  about 
neither  Sweers  nor  I  did  then  pause 
to  consider.  We  were  sailors,  and 
our  first  business  was  to  act  as  sailors, 
and  as  quickly  as  might  bo  we  loosed 
and  hoisted  the  jib  and  foretopmast 
staysail,  so  that  the  vessel  might 
blow  away  from  the  neighbourhood 
of  the  dangerous  remains  of  her  jail 
13 


194     ^bc  Sbip  Seen  on  tbe  flee 

of  ice.  We  then  sounded  the  well, 
and,  finding  no  water,  went  to  work 
to  loose  the  foresail  and  foretopsail, 
which  canvas  we  made  shift  to  set 
with  the  aid  of  the  capstan.  I  then 
lighted  the  binnacle  lam])  whilst 
Sweers  held  the  wheel  ;  and  having 
sounded  the  well  afresh,  to  make 
sure  of  the  hull,  we  headed  away  to 
the  eastwards,  the  wind  being  about 
W.  S.  W. 

Before  the  dawn  broke  we  had  run 
the  ice  out  of  sight.  Sweers  and  I 
managed,  as  I  have  no  doubt,  to  ar- 
rive at  the  theory  of  the  liberation  of 
the  ship  by  comparing  our  sensations 
and  experiences.  There  can  be  no 
question  that  the  berg  had  split  in 
twain  almost  amidships.  This  was 
the  cause  of  the  tremendous  noise  of 
thunder  which  I  heard.  The  split- 
ting of  the  ice  had  hoisted  the  shelf 
or  beach  on  which  the  barque  lay, 
and  occasioned  that  sensation  of  fly- 
ing into  the  air  which  I  had  noticed. 
But  the  lifting  of  the  beach  of  ice 
had  also  violently  and  sharply  sloped 
it,  and  the  barque,  freeing  herself, 
had  fled  down  it  broadside  on,  taking 
the  water  with  a  mighty  souse  and 
crash,  then  rising  buoyant,  and  lifting 
and  falling  upon  the  seas  as  we  had 
both  of  us  felt  her  do. 

And  now  to  bring  this  queer  yarn 


ilbe  Sbip  Seen  on  tbc  Ucc     195 

to  a  close,  for  1  have  no  space  to 
dwell  upon  our  thankfulness  and  our 
proceedings  until  we  obtained  the 
help  we  stood  in  need  of.  We  man- 
aged to  handle  the  barque  without 
assistance  for  three  days,  then  fell  in 
with  an  American  ship  bound  to 
Liverpool,  who  lent  us  three  of  her 
men,  and  within  three  weeks  of  the 
date  of  our  release  from  the  iceberg 
we  were  in  soundings  in  the  Chops  of 
the  Channel,  and  a  few  days  later  had 
safely  brought  the  barque  to  an 
anchor  in  the  river  Thames. 

The  adventure  yielded  Sweers  and 
I  a  thousand  i)ounds  apiece  as  salvage 
money,  but  we  were  kept  waiting  a 
long  time  before  receiving  our  just 
reward.  It  was  necessary  to  com- 
municate with  the  owners  of  the 
barque  in  America,  and  then  the  law- 
yers got  hold  of  the  job,  and  I  grew 
so  weary  of  interviews,  so  vexed  and 
sickened  by  needless  correspondence, 
that  I  should  have  been  thankful  to 
have  taken  two  hundred  pounds  for 
my  share  merely  to  have  made  an 
end. 

It  seems  that  the  President  had 
been  abandoned  two  years  and  five 
months  by  her  crew  before  the  Light- 
ning sighted  her  on  the  ice.  Her 
people  had  stuck  to  her  for  eight 
months,  then  made  off  in  a  body  with 


196     Cbc  Sbip  Seen  on  tbc  Ike 


the  boats,  carrying  their  captain  and 
mates  along  with  them.  They  re- 
garded the  situation  of  their  ship  as 
hopeless,  and  indeed,  as  it  turned 
out,  they  were  not  very  wrong,  so  far 
as  their  notions  of  reasonable  deten- 
tion went  ;  for  they  never  could  have 
liberated  the  vessel  by  their  own 
efforts  ;  they  must  have  waited,  as  we 
had,  for  the  ice  to  free  her  ;  and  this 
would  have  signified  to  them  an  im- 
prisonment of  two  years  and  a  half 
over  and  above  the  eight  months 
they  had  already  spent  in  her  whilst 
ice-bound. 

Sweers  gave  up  the  sea,  started  in 
business,  and  died,  about  ten  years 
since,  a  fairly  well-to-do  man.  And 
shall  I  tell  you  what  I  did  with  my 
thousand  pounds  ?  .  .  .  But  my 
story  has  already  run  to  greater 
length  than  I  had  intended  when 
sitting  down  to  write  it. 


THE  END. 


THE  INCOGNITO  LIBRARY. 


A  series  of  small  books  by  representative 
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In  this  series  will  be  included  the  authorized 
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